Six individuals lost their lives and 10 others remain unaccounted for on Sunday as search efforts persisted following heavy rainfall in Noto, a region within Ishikawa Prefecture that had already been ravaged by a powerful earthquake.
Rescue operations and restoration efforts continued in the area, as record-breaking rainfall led to flooding in nearly two dozen rivers and triggered landslides, severing roads and isolating over 100 communities. Two of the six fatalities were discovered near a landslide-affected tunnel in Wajima that sustained significant damage from the January 1 earthquake and was undergoing repairs, according to the land ministry. Some workers at the site were successfully rescued.
Elsewhere in the prefecture, two people were still missing after being swept away by swollen rivers, and eight others were reported as unaccounted for. Over a 48-hour period ending Sunday afternoon, Wajima recorded nearly 500 millimeters (mm) of rainfall, while Suzu received close to 400 mm. Both cities on the Noto Peninsula had been under heavy rain warnings since the previous day.
The rainfall in these two cities reached double the average levels for September. As the heavy rain subsided, the weather agency downgraded its 'special warnings' for the cities and the town of Noto to 'warnings' in the morning. However, the Japan Meteorological Agency urged residents in Ishikawa and Niigata, another prefecture along the Sea of Japan that experienced over 300 mm of rainfall in the 48 hours, to remain vigilant against further disasters due to heavy rain until noon on Monday.
Given that the ground in some areas of the two prefectures has become loosened due to the magnitude 7.6 earthquake in January, compounded by the recent rain, even a small amount of additional rain could heighten the risk of landslides, the agency cautioned.
