Eastern Japan rain kills 9

Heavy rain in eastern Japan has claimed nine lives, according to public broadcaster NHK. The unprecedented deluge has flooded over a thousand homes and disrupted roads and rail services. Torrential downpours began late Thursday, triggering landslide warnings and power outages. A weather station recorded 30cm of rain in 24 hours, marking the wettest August in six decades for the Chiba region.

By Friday morning, the city of Chiba had logged more than three times the rainfall typically seen in the entire month of August, as reported by Tokyo's land ministry. Nine fatalities have been confirmed, with NHK citing its own tally. Chiba's disaster management office listed eight deaths as of Saturday evening, some victims trapped in submerged cars and others found on flooded streets.

Over 70 houses were partially destroyed, while more than a thousand households experienced flooding, with around 600 seeing water levels rise above the floorboards. An estimated 1,200 cars remain abandoned on roads, with authorities working to tow them away or use jacks to move them. An official from Japan's Meteorological Agency stated on Thursday that this was shaping up to be an unprecedented level of heavy rain.

Scientists have noted that human-driven climate change is making extreme weather more frequent, prolonged, and intense.