Japan issues top-level heavy-rain alert for parts of Ishikawa and Toyama
The Japan Meteorological Agency has placed a Level 5 heavy-rain warning over several municipalities in Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures, urging roughly 180,000 residents to evacuate and stay alert for landslides.
Japan’s weather bureau announced a special heavy-rain warning on Thursday, assigning a Level 5 alert—the strongest rating—to multiple towns in Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures. The municipalities of Himi, Hakui, Shika, Hodatsushimizu and Nakanoto are told to expect severe flooding, with the Oyabe River at risk of overflowing, prompting evacuation directives for about 180,000 residents. The agency projects up to 180 mm of rain across the Hokuriku region along the Sea of Japan coast and up to 150 mm in the Kanto-Koshin and Tokai areas over the next 24 hours.
In addition, a Level 4 landslide warning has been issued for Itoigawa in Niigata Prefecture, urging locals to seek safety. Earlier this month, a similar Level 5 warning in Chiba Prefecture led to deadly floods and thousands of stranded vehicles.
Why it matters
Severe rain threatens widespread flooding and landslides, endangering thousands of residents in central Japan.
In this story
