Evacuations underway: Raging floodwaters swamp Japanese town

Tens of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes as heavy rain fell on parts of Japan for a second day. The Kinugawa River burst through a flood barrier, sending a tsunami-like wave into Joso, about 30 miles north of Tokyo, coming on the heels of Tropical Storm Etau. The city was flooded Thursday, destroying homes and cars as desperate residents waited for help, and as thousands of people were ordered to evacuate. Helicopters plucked dozens of residents from the tops of their homes in Japan.

This is a scale of downpour that we have not experienced before. Grave danger could be imminent.

Forecaster Takuya Deshimaru told an emergency press conference.

Tokyo was also hit by heavy rain but the worst affected parts of the country were in the north. The huge rains worsened a contaminated water problem at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant as the rains overwhelmed the site’s drainage pumps, sending radiation-tainted water into the ocean. Several people are reportedly missing across the country as waist-high floods in some areas left rescuers scrambling to pluck residents to safety in the wake of the storm.