Joe Tomei here with a weather update from the hard working JET prefectural advisors, Bilal Khan & Lily McDermott and I’m deeply grateful to them for allowing me to share this with the list.

Hello Kumamoto,

The heavy rainfall in Kyushu remains serious, so we’d like to give some updates:

Emergency Warning in Fukuoka and Nagasaki; heavy rains also expected to hit Kumamoto As of the time of this e-mail heavy rain is falling in Nagasaki and southern Fukuoka Prefectures, which are now under an Emergency Warning [JMA]. Evacuation orders have been made in areas such as Sasebo, Kurume and Hita [NHK]. The Hikosan river in Fukuoka has flooded in some areas [NHK].

Live footage of some areas can bee seen on NHK here: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/realtime/rt0003180.html?utm_int=all_contents_realtime_001

The same heavy rainfall noted above is expected to move into northern Kumamoto (Nankan, Arao) [JMA Hi-res Nowcast]. Please continue to stay vigilant in staying up to date on the evacuation status of your area and on the risk of landslides and flooding of surrounding areas. Please be prepared to evacuate if necessary and take precautions such as filling your bathtub and setting aside your go-bag. Please confirm with your tantosha where you should go if required to evacuate.

Evacuation Warnings Warnings to prepare for evacuation (避難準備 hinan junbi), reccommending evacuation (避難勧告 hinan kankoku) and ordering evacuation (避難指示 hinan shiji) have been issued in various municipalities.

As a reminder, please check any of the following links for updates on the evacuation status of your area: [Kumamoto Pref. Disaster Prevention Portal] [Yahoo! Japan] [NHK]

Evacuation orders are currently in place in Yatsushiro City, Hitoyoshi City, Minamata City, Tsunagi Town, Nishiki Town, Taragi Town, Yunomae Town, Mizukami Village, Saraga Village, Yamae Village, Kuma Village, Asagiri Town.

As of 5:26 pm today, Kumamoto City has also announced a recommendation for evacuation for residents near mountainsides (due to risk of landslides).

*Note: Home pages for 19 municipalities, including Yatsushiro and Hitoyoshi are offline [NHK]. Some municipalities are providing up-to-date information on their Twitter accounts, For example:

As we mentioned in our earlier e-mail, the word “hinan” in Japanese has the nuance of “seeking safety/shelter” and does not necessarily mean you must go to an evacuation facility, especially if there is risk of flooding and landslides, due to the potential danger associated with re-locating. Sheltering at home (if it is safe to do so in your particular living situation) is also an option so as to avoid over-crowding at evacuation shelters in light of COVID-19.

For those of you who are unsure of where the closest evacuation center is, please refer to the following: [Yahoo! Japan (You can find a map of evacuation facilities for each municipality and filter by type of natural disaster] [Google map of evacuation centres and water provision sites maintained by a private support organisation]. If you need water you can get it from your closest evacuation centre.

Updates regarding the situation in the south of the prefecture: 41 confirmed dead, 1 more found without vital signs, 10 missing; search continues [NHK: 1 2] National government moves to declare the situation an “Extremely Severe Natural Disaster” (激甚災害 gekijin saigai) which would put it in the same category as the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes and entail the same scale of financial assistance for recovery. Approximately 2200 members of the Self-Defence Forces and 100 national government workers have currently been dispached to affected areas. [Yomiuri Shimbun] Post offices, banks and convenience stores closed in affected areas [NHK: 1 2 3]　 14 bridges along the Kuma River have been swept away [NHK] Several communities along the Kuma river remain practically isolated, rescue activities ongoing [NHK]

Lastly, here (again) are some websites where you can get up-to-date information Japan Meterological Agency (in English) You can track advisories/warnings on this page of the website. You can track landslide risk in real-time on this page of the website. You can track flooding risk in real-time on this page of the website. You can track precipitation in real-time on this page of the website. Kumamoto Prefecture Disaster Prevention Portal (Japanese only, machine translation possible) Kumamoto Prefecture Disaster Prevention Information Hompage (Japanese only) Kumamoto Prefecture River Level and Weather Warning Information with radar (Japanese only but has very useful and detailed information) Kumamoto Landslide Risk Map (Japanese only) Information on Expressway Closures (Japanese only) Finally, the Japan Meteorological Agency has announced that even if rains subside there is still risk of extreme disasters occurring, so please do not hesitate to seek shelter. ⇒[NHK: 気象庁「雨弱まっても重大災害のおそれ ためらわず避難を」]