Heavy Rain Triggers Evacuation Order For Parts Of Tohoku Region, Niigata
Officials in parts of Yamagata Prefecture hit by torrential rain are urging residents to immediately secure their safety.
A level-five alert, which is the highest on Japan's disaster warning scale, was in effect for the towns of IIde, Takahata and Kawanishi and in Nanyo City as of 9: 30 p.m.
The Meteorological Agency has called on people in those areas to carefully monitor the current situation, and do everything they can to protect their own lives.
The agency advised people who would face danger moving to evacuation centers to take shelter in nearby buildings. If they cannot leave buildings, they are advised to evacuate to upper floors, or move away from hill slopes.
An evacuation order, the level-four alert, has also been put in place for other parts of Yamagata as well as Aomori, Iwate, Yamagata, Fukushima and Niigata prefectures. That order affects more than 14,000 households with about 36,000 people.