Rescue efforts in Japan following heavy rains, floods
Tokyo, July 8 : Rescue and search operations continued in Japan on Sunday to locate over 40 people who were reported missing after floods and landslides caused by torrential rains hit the country which have also left at least 65 people dead.
Authorities said in addition to the confirmed deaths, four other people remained unconscious, while at least 45 were missing, reports Efe news.
Emergency services have received over a 100 calls reporting cars being swept away or other accidents although it is not clear exactly how many people are missing, government spokesperson Yoshihide Suga said.
Several areas have registered record levels of precipitation since torrential rainfall began lashing the country on Thursday, and 20 prefectures are on alert - three of them on the highest possible alert -- Gifu, Ehime, Kochi -- for overflowing rivers and disasters related to landslides and mudslides.
A 54,000-member team, including soldiers, police officers and firefighters were involved in the rescue efforts, for which 41 helicopters have also been deployed, Suga added.
Authorities have ordered the evacuation of over four million people in southwestern Japan.
The rains are the deadliest to hit Japan since August 2014, when 77 people died in Hiroshima.
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Hezbollah fires over 180 rockets, other projectiles into Israel, wounding at least 7
Beirut, Nov 24: Hezbollah fired at least 185 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in the group's heaviest barrage in several days, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with cease-fire efforts to halt the all-out war.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on a Lebanese army centre killed one soldier and wounded 18 others on the southwestern coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon's military said. Israel's military expressed regret and said the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah, adding that its operations are directed solely against the Hezbollah group. The strike was under review.
Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon's military has largely kept to the sidelines.
Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on US-led cease-fire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.
