Eight killed in Japan deluge

Record rainfall in Japan left thousands of travellers stuck at Narita airport near Tokyo on Friday, while flooding in the surrounding area disrupted transport, cut electricity to 20,000 homes and claimed eight lives. The Express Tribune reported that more than 360mm of rain came down within 24 hours in parts of the Chiba area next to Tokyo, during the country's busiest holiday period. Roads and railway lines were submerged, and soldiers were sent in to support rescue work.

Transport disruption left about 7,000 people stranded, and airport staff handed out bedding, water and food to hundreds who had spent the night there. A 48-year-old Chiba resident returning from a trip, Minoru Yamasaki, said he queued four hours for a taxi, then went back to the terminal after a hotel he had booked could not accommodate him. Airport officials expected most flights to run normally on Friday, but several rail services remained suspended while some trains from Narita to Tokyo had restarted.

Weather authorities said the 367mm recorded in Chiba over 24 hours surpassed the earlier high of 309mm set in October 2013. Power was lost to more than 20,000 homes after rain flooded a substation, according to Tokyo Electric Power, and gas supply to nearly 13,000 was temporarily halted. In Chiba city, hundreds spent the night wrapped in foil blankets at makeshift evacuation centres set up in government buildings, while NEXCO East said major highways were closed and diversions snarled traffic.