A couple of hours ago, I posted about alarm sirens that will go off near the Shirakawa and Goshikawa rivers tomorrow (July 12) at noon. I neglected to point out that the July 12 date is not arbitrary. It is the third anniversary of the July 12 flooding of the Shirakawa river. To give you an idea of what happened, here’s an amateur video that was taken that day. The helicopter that appears was used to lift a stranded person from a home that was in danger of being swept away. Images of that rescue were reported internationally. I’ll follow up later with more about what happened three years ago and what has been do to reduce the possibility of a recurrence.
– Kirk
