Friday marked a week since an emergency heavy rain warning was issued in Hiroshima, Okayama and other prefectures, and heavy rain brought record damage to western Japan.
The National Police Agency announced on Friday that the death toll in areas affected by the heavy rain reached 203 in 14 prefectures as of 1:45 p.m. Friday.
Among them, 171 are designated as related to the heavy rain. Authorities are examining whether the remaining 32 deaths are related to the rain.
With 6,034 people forced to live in evacuation centers in 15 prefectures, activities of daily life have restarted bit by bit as transportation systems are restored. Classes have also resumed at some schools.
In Hiroshima, Okayama and Ehime prefectures, more than 1,000 schools had been closed as of Monday, but about 80 percent of them reopened by Thursday. On Friday, schools resumed in some areas including Kumano, Hiroshima Prefecture, which suffered from landslides.
Yoshida Junior High School in Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture, has been closed due to flooding. Students voluntarily went to the school to clean up the mud-covered building on Friday morning.
Eleven railway operators have suspended their services on 26 lines. On the JR Sanyo Line connecting Okayama and Hiroshima prefectures, West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) took the unusual step of transporting regular-train passengers via Shinkansen trains.
It is expected to take more than a month for the Sanyo line to recover, with JR West introducing special measures that allow office workers and schoolchildren with commuter passes or a coupon ticket to sit on non-reserved seats of Kodama and Hikari Shinkansen services between Shin-Kurashiki and Hiroshima stations, as well as other stations on the line.
In the Shikoku region, the Kochi Expressway was open to traffic on Friday. A massive landslide caused a bridge on the inbound lanes to collapse in Otoyo, Kochi Prefecture. West Nippon Expressway Co. switched the outbound lanes to two-way traffic and avoided long-term traffic disruptions.
In an effort to support disaster waste disposal in the afflicted areas, the Environment Ministry announced that it has started dispatching garbage trucks to a wider range of regions beyond municipally regulated zones. The first batch of 12 trucks from Osaka Prefecture was dispatched to Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, and two trucks from Fukuoka City headed to Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture.
The number of volunteers traveling to the disaster-hit areas is expected to increase with three consecutive holidays beginning on Saturday. According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, social welfare councils at 57 municipalities in 12 prefectures including Okayama, Hiroshima and Ehime set up disaster volunteer centers as of 5 a.m. Friday.
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