Japan Orders Thousands of Evacuations amid ERE

Severe rainstorm, widespread flooding force thousands of evacuations in S. Japan

About 5,000 people have been ordered to evacuate after an Extreme Rain Event (ERE) triggered severe flooding and in Southern Japan.

Up to 400,000 others were advised to abandon their homes after a severe weather system dumped as much as 31cm of rain over Nagasaki prefecture and 23cm over neighboring Kumamoto prefecture over a 24-hour period, social media quoted officials as saying.

Meantime, the weather agency (JMA) issued extreme weather warnings Thursday for the island of Kyushu, including Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures in the south as well as Kumamoto and Nagasaki prefectures in the north.

Southern Kyushu has also been plagued by hundreds of landslides that have damaged or destroyed homes and blocked roads, according to social media.