At a Glance
- More than half a million people have been told to leave their homes as heavy rain persists.
- A nurse described frantic efforts to save nursing home residents as the Kuma River rose.
- About 6,100 homes along the river were swamped, officials said.
Heavy rain continued to fall across southern Japan on Monday as rescuers combed through collapsed houses to search for additional victims of weekend flooding.
At least 49 people have been confirmed dead in Kumamoto prefecture on the island of Kyushu, according to the Kyodo News agency. Another 10 people are missing.
Japan's Meteorological Agency issued its highest-level warning on heavy rain for parts of the island, including Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Saga prefectures, NHK reported.
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Another 11 to 16 inches of rain is forecast to fall by Tuesday evening in southern Kyushu. Officials said serious damage from flooding and landslides is likely.
More than 1.22 million people in the Kyushu region have been asked to evacuate. As of 8 p.m., about 954,000 people from some 440,000 households in Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Saga prefectures were advised to evacuate, according to Kyodo News.
About 205,000 residents in Kumamoto, as well as a total of 67,000 others in Oita, Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, were instructed to seek refuge.
The victims in Kumamoto included 14 residents of a nursing home near the Kuma River, which overran its banks at 11 locations and broke one levee, according to the prefectural government.
A nurse at the home told the Asahi Shimbun staff members put residents in their wheelchairs on top of tables in the dining room when water first entered the building.
Soon, the sound of breaking windows was the first sign the water was rising. Residents screamed for help as their wheelchairs floated off the tables, the nurse recalled. He said he tried to keep two people afloat as he fought the swift-flowing floodwaters.
"I wanted to help them, but I couldn't. I just didn't have any strength left," the man, whose name was not used, recalled to the newspaper.
About 6,100 homes along the river were inundated and 11 bridges were destroyed, officials said, according to Kyodo News. More than 80 schools were closed.
Officials opened 86 evacuation shelters in Kumamoto prefecture, and they were taking precautionary measures to avoid crowding and close contact because of COVID-19. Another 100 evacuation centers were opened in Kagoshima prefecture, where rooms are periodically ventilated and people are asked to practice social distancing.
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