Overview
- The record downpour struck late Thursday into early Friday, flooding roads, homes and rail lines and leaving about 7,000 travellers stranded at Narita airport while many train and highway links were suspended.
- Local officials confirmed at least four deaths in Chiba cities including Ichikawa, Sakura and Yachiyo and reported additional people missing or unresponsive in floodwaters.
- Parts of Chiba recorded exceptional totals, with more than 360 millimetres in 24 hours and roughly 115 millimetres in a single hour in Chiba city, levels that overwhelmed sewers and urban drainage.
- The Japan Meteorological Agency issued its highest Level 5 heavy‑rain and landslide warnings before downgrading them as rain eased, and authorities at the peak ordered evacuations affecting hundreds of thousands while the Ground Self‑Defense Force and disaster teams ran rescue and transport operations.
- Power cuts peaked at tens of thousands of households, with TEPCO reporting up to about 68,000 outages earlier and around 23,000 to 26,000 remaining later, and officials warned saturated ground and swollen rivers leave the region at continued risk if more rain falls.