KUMAMOTO -- Heavy rain in the Kyushu region has caused a massive influx of driftwood and other debris into the Yatsushiro Sea off Kumamoto Prefecture. There is concern over damage to fisheries and the regional environment.
The amount of waste collected by the Kyushu Regional Development Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in the 10 days after the heavy rain began is already more than four times as much as that collected during the torrential rain in northern Kyushu three years ago.
According to the bureau, the majority of the debris comprises phragmites, a type of tall reed grass.
From July 4, when a special heavy rain warning was issued in Kumamoto Prefecture, until Monday, about 5,400 cubic meters of waste was collected in the Yatsushiro Sea, 19 times the 285 cubic meters collected in fiscal 2019.
It is said to be equivalent to the volume of about 1,000 10-ton trucks.
The amount of drifting debris collected in the sea is more than quadruple that collected after the torrential rain in 2017, when driftwood and other waste flowed into the Ariake Sea from the Chikugo River and as much as 1,158 cubic meters was collected in less than two months.
The regional development bureau has been collecting garbage with three cleanup ships and a salvage barge, but the total amount is yet to be confirmed.
According to a local fisheries cooperative, driftwood has caused damage to propeller blades of fishing vessels, forcing them to halt operations.
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