Unprecedented rainfall in Japan leaves at least four dead in Chiba prefecture
Video. Unprecedented rainfall battered Japan on Thursday, leaving at least four people dead and flooding parts of Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. Authorities issued the region’s highest-level rain warning for the first time, while landslide alerts and power cuts affected thousands of residents.
Updated: 14/08/2026 - 10:32 GMT+2
Unprecedented rainfall battered Japan on Thursday, leaving at least four people dead and flooding parts of Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. Authorities issued the region’s highest-level rain warning for the first time, while landslide alerts and power cuts affected thousands of residents.
Nearly 26,000 households were left without power, while 45 homes were flooded and another 39 reported water entering below floor level. Hundreds of people spent the night in shelters or at Chiba station after rail services were suspended.
The disruption was particularly severe around Narita Airport, where about 7,000 travellers were stranded overnight after trains were cancelled, with many sleeping on terminal floors. In rural Chiba, more than a dozen cars were abandoned on flooded roads. A man in his 60s or 70s was found dead in floodwater, while a 66-year-old woman died after becoming trapped in her submerged car, according to the Chiba disaster management office.
The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that the rainfall could be unprecedented. The highest-level warning was downgraded to level four on Friday morning, although the risk of further flooding and landslides remained.
