Published: 2021-07-03 11:38
Last Updated: 2024-03-28 06:46
Saturday, a huge landslide swept away homes and left 19 people missing at a popular resort town in central Japan after days of heavy rain, local officials said.
Television footage showed a torrent of mud obliterating buildings and burying others.
"I heard a horrible sound and saw a mudslide flowing downwards as rescue workers were urging people to evacuate. So I ran to higher ground," a leader of a temple near the disaster told public broadcaster NHK.
"When I returned, houses and cars that were in front of the temple were gone."
A Shizuoka prefecture disaster management official told AFP that "the safety of 19 people is unknown" after the landslide.
The local government has requested military assistance for a rescue mission, he added.
The landslide occurred at around 10:30am and "several houses were swept away," an Atami city official said.
More than 2,800 homes in the region were without power, according to the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).