TOKYO: Four members of the same family were missing in Japan on Wednesday (Aug 28) after heavy rain from an approaching typhoon triggered a landslide, authorities said.
Typhoon Shanshan was 80km northeast of the southern Amami archipelago on Wednesday morning with gusts of up to 252kmh.
A wall of mud, rocks and other debris swept away their house in Gamagori, a city in central Aichi prefecture, late on Tuesday after hours of pounding rain.
“The landslide hit a house where five family members were living – a couple in their 70s, two women in their 40s and a man in his 30s,” a Gamagori official told AFP.
“One of them were rescued late Tuesday, but the search for the four others have been continuing through the night,” he said.
The weather agency may issue a special heavy rain alert for Kagoshima prefecture including Amami later on Wednesday, an agency official said in a morning news conference.
“It’s necessary for us to be on the highest alert,” he said.
