20 people missing and thousands evacuated after floods devastate Japan

Thousands of rescue workers have continued to search for more than 20 missing people in a flooded city near Tokyo, a day after a raging river washed away houses and forced people to rooftops. Officials in Joso City said on Friday that 22 people remained missing after they had lost contact with them following requests for rescue. Three were injured, including one seriously. Two eight-year-old children were believed to be among the missing, NHK national television said. One 63-year-old woman was killed on Thursday after her house was crushed by a landslide and another when her car was swept away. More than 3,500 people were staying in evacuation centres.

The government is putting in the best effort to rescue those who are waiting for help as soon as possible.

Yoshihide Suga

Dozens of residents were airlifted out by military helicopters on Friday morning after waiting overnight in the disaster-struck city north of the Japanese capital. They arrived at an athletic field in the city, carrying a few clothes and food in shopping bags, some of them without shoes. Some 300km to the north, another river overflowed into the city of Osaki on Friday, swamping homes and fields and stranding 60 people, according to media reports.

Asia-Pacific Japan floods