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Japan PM visits flood disaster zone, promises help as new warnings issued

Thursday, 12 July 2018 4:32 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 12 July 2018 4:37 AM ]

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (C) visits a shelter for people affected by the recent flooding in Mabi, Okayama Prefecture, on July 11, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited flood-stricken parts of Japan on Wednesday as the death toll from the worst weather disaster in 36 years reached 176 and health concerns rose amid scorching heat and the threat of new floods.

Torrential rain caused floods and triggered landslides in western Japan last week, bringing death and destruction to neighborhoods built decades ago near steep mountain slopes. At least 176 people were killed, the government said, with dozens missing in Japan's worst weather disaster since 1982.

In Kumano, a mountainside community in Hiroshima prefecture that was hit by a landslide last week, Ken Kirioka anxiously watched rescuers toiling through mud, sand and smashed houses to find the missing, including his 76-year-old father, Katsuharu.

With temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher in the devastated areas in Okayama and Hiroshima prefectures, attention turned to preventing heat-stroke among rescue workers and in evacuation centers where thousands of people have sought shelter.

(Source: Reuters)

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