Emergency Heavy Rain Warning In Japan's Yamagata Prefecture
Weather officials in Japan have issued an emergency heavy rain warning for six municipalities in Yamagata Prefecture. This is a level 5 alert, the highest on Japan's disaster warning scale. The affected communities are the cities of Yonezawa, Nanyo and Nagai, and the towns of Takahata, Kawanishi and Iide. Municipalities are warning residents to immediately head to an evacuation center.
If it's dangerous to do so, people are being told to move to a safer location inside the building they are in now.
More than 100 millimeters of rain per hour has been observed in southern part of Yamagata Prefecture.
Officials say it is highly likely that serious disasters, such as flooding and landslides, have already occurred.