Storm flood rips through residential neighborhood; helicopters pull survivors from collapsing homes

[yuiyoshida]

Banks of the Kinugawa River collapsed shortly after noon Thursday following torrential rain in Joso, Ibaraki Prefecture, flooding a residential neighborhood and creating scenes of devastation. Aerial images showed dozens, if not hundreds, of houses hit by a torrent of water, with some crumbling and being swept away.

Footage from NHK showed emergency personnel using helicopters to pull stranded residents from balconies, as the deluge threatened to demolish the buildings from beneath them.

The scenes were reminiscent of the March 2011 tsunami.

The central government said one person was missing, three were seriously injured and 14 sustained slight injuries. Information is still coming in so the government cannot give exact casualty figures, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga in a news conference Thursday afternoon.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/09/10/national/tochigi-told-brace-immediately-typhoon-deluge/#.VfFvaX0VjMq

[brer cat]

1. How awful.

You can see people still in those houses. They must be terrified.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. One man was in a house that was being swept away

until it ran into a utility pole, which stopped it from going any farther.

[KamaAina]

11. I'm gonna bet the Japanese navy gets them out of there a hell of a lot faster than this

[KittyWampus]

2. What a horrific photo. I hope they are all safe now. The houses are beautiful

[marmar]

3. Goodness.

for the people of Japan.

[spanone]

4. K&R.. :(

[Art_from_Ark]

5. I told you that things around here were pretty messed up today

Yes, indeed.
And tonight, the cops had blocked two main roads leading to Joso City-- one of which crosses the Kinugawa River.

Update-- 7 people are now considered missing, and evacuation warnings or advisories have been issued to 410,000 households-- 940,000 people in Tochigi, Ibaraki, and Chiba prefectures.

[yuiyoshida]

9. Messed up doesn't cover it Art san!

[Art_from_Ark]

12. Here's a map of the hardest hit area in Ibaraki (outlined in red)

I used to have some students who lived near there. I hope they're OK.

https://www.google.co.jp/maps/place/%E3%80%92300-2506+%E8%8C%A8%E5%9F%8E%E7%9C%8C%E5%B8%B8%E7%B7%8F%E5%B8%82%E4%B8%89%E5%9D%82%E7%94%BA/@36.0859309,139.9643557,14z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x6018a6e3d0aa109b:0x762f3816b7cb1ab4

[Art_from_Ark]

13. This morning

I crossed over the Tone River. The Kinugawa River empties into the Tone River just upstream from where I crossed. The Tone River was more like a huge lake than a river, 3-4 times its normal width.

[Art_from_Ark]

6. Just 12 days ago, Joso City had a huge fireworks display on the banks of the Kinugawa River

http://sp.jorudan.co.jp/hanabi/spot_87164.html

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Wow. That's awful.

The smaller two story house looks like it's minutes from a full collapse.

[suffragette]

10. This is terrible

[smirkymonkey]

14. That just looks so terrifying! Those poor people!

I hope they were rescued in time. Those houses look like they are minutes from being washed away entirely.

[Art_from_Ark]

16. Here's a video of a daring rescue

http://www.news24.jp/articles/2015/09/10/07309270.html

[Art_from_Ark]

17. Here are a whole bunch of rescue videos

https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%E5%B8%B8%E7%B7%8F%E5%B8%82%E6%95%91%E5%8A%A9&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&hl=ja#q=%E5%B8%B8%E7%B7%8F%E5%B8%82%E6%95%91%E5%8A%A9&hl=ja&tbm=vid

My hat is off to the rescuers-- their job was extremely tough, and made tougher because the only way they could get in to that area and rescue people was by helicopter.

It's hard to believe this happened so close to me.

[Marrah_G]

15. Those pictures are terrifying

japan has had a rough few years....