In the hour leading up to 9pm (8pm, Singapore time), approximately 100mm of rain fell in the vicinity of Sakura city, Chiba, NHK reported, citing JMA.
The JMA issued its highest-level heavy rain warning for the Chiba region for the first time ever, the JMA official told reporters.
The agency’s top-level warning – issued for more than a dozen cities in Chiba – typically indicates a high likelihood of an imminent disaster due to heavy rain.
NHK said the extreme weather knocked out power for more than 10,000 households in Chiba and that authorities had been alerted to instances of landslides, mudslides and flooded houses in several cities in the region.
“This happened all of a sudden so it was a complete surprise. The power is out so I’m worried whether I can open my business in the next couple of days,” a woman in Chiba’s Ichikawa city told NHK.
Scientists say human-driven climate change is making extreme weather more frequent, prolonged and intense.