Weather tracker: Extreme rainfall deluges Japan and South Korea

Unprecedented downpours cause deaths, evacuations and transport chaos. Plus, Hurricane Lala batters Hawaii South Korea and Japan were hit by extreme rainfall late last week and into this week. On 13 August in the city of Chiba near Tokyo there was a record-breaking 115mm of rainfall in just one hour, while the nearby city of Sakura broke its own record with 97mm in one hour. A level five emergency warning for heavy rain was issued by local authorities – the highest alert level and the first time one has been issued since the system was implemented in May. More than 100,000 households were asked to evacuate, with more than 20,000 in the Chiba prefecture left without power, while thousands of people were stranded at Tokyo’s Narita airport.

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