THE FLOODS IN JAPAN.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2739, 1 February 1890, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE FLOODS IN JAPAN.

The full extent of the recent disastroni inundations iu Japan i 8 only gradually becoming known, on account of the destruction of teleprapbs, roads and bridges, and tbe consequent cessation of communication. Between April and September the country was visited by a succession of ( storms and floods almost without intermission. During the latter half of April, Yezo and the Shimatie, Nugata, and Shiga prefectures were visited by inundations. In Yezo many houses and cattle were destroyed, and alonjr the shores of Lake Biwa the fertile rice lands were under water. In Juno frightful rainstorms took place along the west coast, and the rivers filled, while a strong westerly wind forced the sea up their mouths, so that the water spread all over the country. In these floods, in one prefecture alone, 12,000 acreß of land under crops were buried under mud and sand, and 1,200 houses were destroyed. In July, in the southern island of Kiushiu, the Chikugo river overflowed its banks and wrought havoc in the Oita prefecture. About 4000 acres of cultivated land were devastated, over 20 miles of embankments wero swept away, roads were rendered impassable, and business had to be suspended everywhere. Later on, in July, Hiroshima prefecture, on the Inland Sea, was visited in a similar way with similar disastrous results. But the floods of August were worsethan all theothersput together. In south-eastern Japan the calamity was so great and wide-spread that the nation was fnirly roused. In Kiushiu, the river (the largest in that island) again flooded a large tract of country, the water rising 28-Ht. abovo its usual level, and this it did twico in succession in three week?. Thirty-three thousand three hundred and seventy-two houses were submersed, 2741 bridges were swept away, 130 miles of embankment do?troyed and 73,694 persons were thrown on the world without adequate sustenance. In the south-eastern part of the main island 1,247 persons were killed, being mostly swept out to sea before help could bo rendered. On September 11 a terrible gale swept over Northern Japan, and the sea forced over the embankments in various places along the coast and covered the surrounding countrv. The totals of the official returns so far arc :—l2 perfectures devastated, 2,419 persons killed, 165 wounded, over 90,000 deprived of the means of subsistence, over 50,000 houses swopt away or submerged, 150,000 acre* of crops destroyed, about 6,000 bridges washed away, and hundreds of miles of roads broken up. For 30 years no Biich calamity, or succession of calamities, has overtaken Japan. The Bandaisan eruption was insignificant compared to this.