Chiba floods: Record rain near Tokyo kills four, strands thousands

At least four people are dead and one person is missing after record-breaking rainfall triggered severe flooding in Japan's Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, overnight. The deluge inundated roads and homes, stranded thousands of commuters, and disrupted rail and air travel across the region.

The Japan Meteorological Agency downgraded its most severe heavy-rain warning for more than a dozen municipalities in Chiba as the downpour eased on Friday morning, but cautioned that more rain was expected later in the day. Officials described the rainfall as unprecedented, with 11.5 centimeters falling in a single hour in Chiba City and 9.7 centimeters recorded in one hour in Sakura — both new records.

Local authorities confirmed the deaths of a man found floating on a flooded road in Ichikawa city and a woman who was trapped inside a flooded car in Sakura. Another person pulled from a submerged vehicle in Kashiwa city was presumed dead. More than 80 homes were flooded across the prefecture, and nearly 230,000 residents were advised to evacuate to safer ground.

The flooding caused widespread travel disruption. The Ground Self-Defense Force dispatched buses to rescue roughly 4,000 people who spent the night stranded at Soga train station, a local hub that also serves Tokyo Disney. The theme park itself reported no damage. At Narita Airport, which serves the capital region, thousands of passengers were left waiting as train services to and from the area were suspended. Hundreds of others took shelter overnight at the Chiba prefectural government building.

Power outages affected about 23,000 homes on Friday morning, down from a peak of 68,000 earlier, according to utility operator TEPCO Power Grid. Television footage and photographs taken after daylight showed extensive damage, with muddy water covering residential streets, vehicles, and sections of railway tracks.