In Japan, "unprecedented" rains leave at least five dead

At least five people have died after "unprecedented" torrential rains east of Tokyo, Japanese authorities announced on Friday, August 14, 2026. The rainfall stranded thousands of people at Narita International Airport, which serves the capital.

Abandoned cars and collapsed roads

The torrential rains that fell on Thursday evening triggered landslide alerts and power outages east of the capital, with meteorologists issuing the highest level of heavy rain alert for the first time in Chiba prefecture, which borders Tokyo.

In rural areas of the prefecture, several dozen cars, some covered in mud, were abandoned while technical services worked all day to repair damaged or collapsed roads, an AFP journalist observed.

A man was also found floating on a flooded roadway and another, who collapsed in the street and was rushed to the hospital, did not survive, according to the same authorities. On Friday afternoon, the public broadcaster NHK reported eight deaths. A toll that the authorities refused to confirm to AFP.

Nearly 26,000 households in Chiba were left without electricity, the local Disaster Management Bureau specified, while several houses were flooded. "We are heading toward an unprecedented level of intense rain," an official from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) had warned on Thursday evening during a hastily organized press conference.

About 6,000 people remained stranded all night at Narita, one of Tokyo's two main airports, with many trains to and from the airport canceled until Friday afternoon.

"I never thought I would spend the night at the airport"

Many passengers, who received water, food, and sleeping bags, spent the night in the terminals. And in the morning, huge queues for check-in were observed by AFP. "I never thought I would spend the night at the airport, but that's how it is and we are learning to deal with it," another traveler, also forced to stay on-site, told NHK.

Hundreds of people also found themselves stranded in the evening at Chiba train station due to the suspension of traffic, an AFP journalist observed on Thursday evening.

Hundreds of people had to spend the night in shelters in Chiba, NHK also reported. "All of this happened suddenly, so it was a total surprise. There is no electricity anymore, so I am worried about whether I will be able to reopen my business in the coming days," explained a resident of Ichikawa, located in Chiba.

Scientists believe that climate change caused by human activity makes extreme weather events more frequent, longer, and more intense.