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Florida Collapse: Demolition of condominium set; rescue work to resume after
The precarious, still-standing portion of a collapsed South Florida condo building was rigged with explosive charges and set for demolition overnight, Miami-Dade County officials said late Sunday. The work has suspended the search-and-rescue mission, but officials said it will open up new areas for rescue teams to explore.
Rescuers will await the “all-clear” after the demolition and then immediately dive back into the task of trying to locate any survivors buried under the rubble, County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said. Officials had previously said that the search could resume from 15 minutes to an hour after the detonation.
Read: Collapse survivors escaped with their lives, but little else
“We are standing by. We are ready to go in, no matter the time of night,” Levine Cava told a news conference Sunday night.
No one has been rescued alive since the first hours after the June 24 collapse.
Rescuers are hoping the demolition will give them access for the first time to parts of the garage area that are a focus of interest, Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah has said. That could give a clearer picture of voids that may exist in the rubble and could possibly harbor survivors.
The decision to demolish the Surfside building came after concerns mounted that the damaged structure was at risk of falling, endangering the crews below and preventing them from operating in some areas. Parts of the remaining building shifted on Thursday, prompting a 15-hour suspension in the work. An approaching storm added urgency to the concerns.
Read: Latest victims in condo tower collapse include 2 children
“I truly believe ... that the family members recognize and appreciate that we are proceeding in the best possible fashion to allow us to do the search that we need to do,” Levine Cava said.
Jadallah told family members Sunday afternoon that the demolition had been scheduled for between 10 p.m. Sunday and 3 a.m. Monday, barring any last-minute glitch such as someone straying into the restricted zone around the building. Levine Cava confirmed that time frame.
The mayor said residents in the area were being told to stay inside until two hours after the blast to avoid the dust raised by the explosion. Local authorities were going door to door to advise them of the timing, and to ask them to keep windows closed.
Responding to concerns of missing pets, Levine Cava said she had made it “a priority since Day 1 to do absolutely everything possible to search for every animal.”
She said Miami-Dade fire rescue team members had conducted three full sweeps of Champlain Towers South, including searching in closets and under beds, but “the latest information we have is that there are no animals remaining in the building.”
The search at the Surfside building has been suspended since Saturday afternoon so workers could begin the drilling work and lay the explosives. Jadallah said the suspension was necessary because the drilling could cause the structure to fail, but a family member could be heard calling the delay “devastating.”
So far, rescuers have recovered the remains of 24 people, with 121 still missing. Many others barely escaped. The Miami-Dade Police Department on Saturday night added Graciela Cattarossi, 48, and Gonzalo Torre, 81, to the list of those confirmed dead.
Approaching Tropical Storm Elsa has added urgency to the demolition plans with forecasts suggesting there could be strong winds in the area by Monday. The latest forecasts have moved the storm westward, mostly sparing South Florida, but National Hurricane Center meteorologist Robert Molleda said the area could still feel effects.
“We’re expecting primarily tropical storm force gusts,” Molleda said, referring to gusts above 40 mph (64 kph).
The detonation will aim to bring the remaining portion of the building straight down and toward the street side, away from the existing pile of debris, Jadallah said.
The method of demolition is called “energetic felling,” which uses small detonation devices and relies on the force of gravity. Levine Cava said that should bring the building down in place, containing the collapse to the immediate surroundings.
State officials said they hired the BG Group, a general contractor based in Delray Beach, Florida, to lead the demolition. They did not immediately respond to an inquiry about how the firm was selected, but a contract for the projects calls for the state to pay the company $935,000.
Read: 'Excruciating:' Florida collapse search stretches to Day 6
A spokesperson for the state’s Division of Emergency Management said the company is subcontracting with Maryland-based Controlled Demolition Inc., which experts say is among only a handful of companies in the U.S. that demolishes structures using explosives. The company was supposed to place explosives on the basement and lobby levels of the still-standing structure, according to the contract for the work.
CDI is “probably one of the best” in the industry, said Steve Schwartz, a member of the National Demolition Association’s board of directors. He described the company’s president and owner, Mark Loizeaux, as “cool, calm and collected.”
In implosions — using explosives to have a building fall in on itself — the charges are generally set off in rapid succession over a matter of seconds, said Scott Homrich, who heads the National Demolition Association and runs his own demolition company in Detroit, Michigan. Setting the explosives off at intervals serves to break up the building at the same time it’s coming down.
Officials acknowledged that the tragedy is continuing to unfold during the July 4th holiday.
“This July 4 we’re reminded that patriotism isn’t just about loyalty to country,” said Levine Cava. “It’s about loyalty to one another — to our communities, to those in need whose names or stories we may not know ever, but to whom we are connected by compassion and by resilience.”
UAE becomes world’s most vaccinated nation against COVID-19: Bloomberg's Vaccine Tracker
The United Arab Emirates leads the world, with enough vaccinations to cover 72.1 percent of its population and has overtaken Seychelles to become the world's most vaccinated nation, according to Bloomberg's Vaccine Tracker.
The UAE has so far administered 15.5 million doses, enough to cover 72.1 percent of its population based on a two-dose regimen. The UAE tests more people per capita than most nations and has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world.
In a statement, Abdul Rahman bin Mohammad bin Nasser Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention, said that this new global achievement adds to the country’s success and record of achievements in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that it is an international recognition of the success of the National Vaccination Campaign, launched by the UAE, which is continuing to achieve its objectives.
Also read: Europe in vaccination race against COVID-19′s delta variant
"The proactive vision of the country’s leadership enabled us to address the challenges posed by COVID-19. Today, the UAE is the world’s most vaccinated country," he added. He also highlighted the efforts of the national health sector, which is keen to provide diverse types of vaccines to all segments of the community, as well as the community's awareness about the importance of being vaccinated.
Al Owais stressed that the National Vaccination Campaign is continuing in all emirates of the country, along with the adherence to relevant precautionary measures, which represent the foundations of the national efforts aimed at achieving recovery and ensuring the return to normalcy.
Medical teams and front-liners are working as one team, upon the directives of the UAE’s leadership, to achieve recovery from the pandemic, he added, affirming that the UAE is a unique global model of combating the COVID-19 pandemic, and has received widespread international appreciation, underscoring the community’s confidence in the procedures adopted by the UAE Government.
Also read: COVAX calls for equal recognition of all approved vaccines
He also noted the importance of the community’s awareness of, and adherence to, precautionary measures to maintain the gains achieved by the country and protect its members.
Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker is the most up-to-date and comprehensive tally of vaccinations around the globe.
Car crash kills 32 in southern Mozambique
At least 32 people were killed and dozens more were injured in a road accident on Saturday night in Maputo Province, southern Mozambique, Radio Mozambique (RM) reported on Sunday.
The crash, involving one cargo truck and a bus, took place on national EN1 road at the Maluana administrative post in the district of Manhica, which is about 80 kilometers away from the capital city Maputo, the report quoted the Administrator of Manhica Cristina Mafumo as saying.
"The driver of the bus, who survived, made an irregular overtaking at high speed and could not control his vehicle, (which ended up) colliding with other cars," Mafumo told RM.
Also read: Rebel attacks deepen humanitarian crisis in north Mozambique
Thirty-one people, including a two-year-old child, died on the spot and the road was awash with blood. The 32nd victim, a 38-year-old female, lost her life at the Manhica District Hospital, where the wounded were taken to, among whom several are still in critical condition, says the report.
Following the accident, the Police Commander-General Bernardino Rafael went to the scene on Sunday morning, accompanied by the Governor of Maputo Province Julio Jose Parruque, where they seek to find out what happened, according to the report.
Also read: Rebels leave beheaded bodies in streets of Mozambique town
Rafael lamented the loss of so many lives and said that it is necessary to consider the banning of the transport company Nhacale, which the passenger bus belongs to and had already been suspended once in 2017, the report says.
Philippine military plane crashes, 45 dead, 49 rescued
A Philippine air force C-130 aircraft carrying combat troops assigned to fight Muslim militants crashed and exploded while landing in the south Sunday, killing at least 42 army soldiers on board and three civilians on the ground in one of the worst disasters in the air force’s history.
At least 49 other soldiers were rescued with injuries and survived the fiery noontime crash into a coconut grove outside the Jolo airport in Sulu province, including some who managed to jump off the aircraft before it exploded and was gutted by fire, military officials said. Three of seven villagers who were hit on the ground died.
The aircraft had 96 people on board, including three pilots and five crew while the rest were army personnel, the military said, adding only five soldiers remained unaccounted for late Sunday. The pilots survived but were seriously injured, officials said.
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules was one of two ex-U.S. Air Force aircraft handed over to the Philippines as part of military assistance this year.
The aircraft originally took off from Manila with only a few passengers, including a two-star army general, Romeo Brawner Jr., who disembarked with his wife and three children in Cagayan de Oro city, where he’s set to become the new military regional commander on Monday. The army troops then boarded the C-130 in Cagayan de Oro for the flight to Sulu.
Brawner said he was stunned to learn that the plane he’d just flown on had crashed.
“We’re very thankful that we were spared, but extremely sad that so many lost their lives,” Brawner told The Associated Press.
Officials said the injured personnel were brought to a hospital in Sulu or flown to nearby Zamboanga city, and troops were continuing to search for the missing. “A number of soldiers were seen jumping out of the aircraft before it hit the ground, sparing them from the explosion caused by the crash,” a military statement said, citing witnesses.
Also read: 10 killed in South Sudan plane crash
Initial pictures released by the military showed the tail section of the cargo plane relatively intact. The other parts of the plane were burned or scattered in pieces in a clearing surrounded by coconut trees. Soldiers and other rescuers with stretchers were seen dashing to and from the smoke-shrouded crash site, where a dark gray smoke billowed shortly after impact.
The plane was transporting troops, many of them new soldiers who had just undergone basic training, from the southern Cagayan de Oro city for deployment in Sulu, officials said.
“They were supposed to join us in our fight against terrorism,” Sulu military commander Maj. Gen. William Gonzales said. Government forces have been battling Abu Sayyaf militants in the predominantly Muslim province of Sulu for decades.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. Regional military commander Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan said it was unlikely that the aircraft took hostile fire, and cited witnesses as saying that it appeared to have overshot the runway then crashed on the periphery of the airport.
Military chief of staff Gen. Cirilito Sobejana told reporters that “the plane missed the runway and it was trying to regain power but failed and crashed.”
An air force official told The AP that the Jolo runway is shorter than most others in the country, making it more difficult for pilots to adjust if an aircraft misses the landing spot. The official, who has flown military aircraft to and from Jolo several times, spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to speak publicly.
Also read: Plane with 190 on-board crashes in Kerala, 17 deaths confirmed
Initial pictures showed that the weather was apparently fine in Sulu, although other parts of the Philippines were experiencing rains due to an approaching tropical depression. The airport in Sulu’s main town of Jolo is located a few kilometers (miles) from a mountainous area where troops have battled Abu Sayyaf militants. Some militants have aligned themselves with the Islamic State group.
The U.S. and the Philippines have separately blacklisted Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization for bombings, ransom kidnappings and beheadings. It’s been considerably weakened by years of government offensives but remains a threat.
President Rodrigo Duterte expanded the military presence in Sulu to a full division in late 2018, deploying hundreds of additional troops, air force aircraft and other combat equipment after vowing to wipe out Abu Sayyaf and allied foreign and local militants.
Government forces at the time were pursuing Muslim armed groups a year after quelling the five-month siege of southern Marawi city by hundreds of militants linked to the Islamic State group. More than 1,000 people, mostly militants and long-elusive Abu Sayyaf commanders, were killed in months of intense air and ground assaults.
Sunday’s crash comes as the limited number of military aircraft has been further strained, as the air force helped transport medical supplies, vaccines and protective equipment to far-flung island provinces amid spikes in COVID-19 infections.
The Philippine air force has a history of tragic disasters. One of its aircraft crashed in a rice field north of Manila in 1971, killing 40 military personnel. A recently delivered S-701 Blackhawk helicopter crashed more than a week ago near Clark freeport, a former U.S. air base, killing all six air force personnel on board.
The Philippine government has struggled for years to modernize its military, one of Asia’s least equipped, as it dealt with decades-long Muslim and communist insurgencies and territorial rifts with China and other claimant countries in the South China Sea.
Europe in vaccination race against COVID-19′s delta variant
Countries across Europe are scrambling to accelerate coronavirus vaccinations and outpace the spread of the more infectious delta variant, in a high-stakes race to prevent hospital wards from filling up again with patients fighting for their lives.
The urgency coincides with Europe’s summer holidays, with fair weather bringing more social gatherings and governments reluctant to clamp down on them. Social distancing is being neglected, especially among the young, and some countries are scrapping the requirement to wear masks outdoors.
Incentives for people to get shots include free groceries, travel and entertainment vouchers, and prize drawings. The president of Cyprus even appealed to a sense of patriotism.
The risk of infection from the delta variant is “high to very high” for partially or unvaccinated communities, according to the European Centre for Disease Control, which monitors 30 countries on the continent. It estimates that by the end of August, the variant will account for 90% of cases in the European Union’s 27 nations.
Also read: 'It's just the beginning': US ambassador on Moderna shipment's arrival
“It is very important to progress with the vaccine rollout at a very high pace,” the ECDC warned.
The World Health Organization is also concerned. The variant makes transmission growth “exponential,” according to Maria Van Kerkhove, its technical lead on COVID-19.
Daily new case numbers are already climbing sharply in countries like the United Kingdom, Portugal and Russia.
In the U.K., cases of the delta variant have increased fourfold in less than a month, with confirmed cases Friday up 46% on the previous week.
Portuguese health authorities this week reported a “vertiginous” rise in the delta variant, which accounted for only 4% of cases in May but almost 56% in June. The country is reporting its highest number of daily cases since February, and the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals has surpassed 500 for the first time since early April.
Read: Bangladesh receives 1st consignment of 2.5 million Moderna vaccine doses
Reports of new infections in Russia more than doubled in June, topping 20,000 per day this week, and new deaths hit 697 on Saturday, the fifth day in a row that the daily death toll set a record.
Still, “no one wants any lockdowns,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov at a briefing, although he admitted that the virus situation in a number of Russian regions is “tense.”
In some countries, the virus is spreading much faster among younger people. In Spain, the national 14-day case notification rate per 100,000 people rose to 152 on Friday. But for the 20-29 age group, it shot up to 449.
Those numbers have triggered alarm across the continent.
The Dutch government is extending its vaccination program to those aged 12-17 to help head off a feared new surge. Greece is offering young adults 150 euros ($177) in credit after their first jab. Rome authorities are mulling the use of vans to vaccinate people at the beach. And Poland last week launched a lottery open only to adults who are fully vaccinated, with new cars among the prizes.
Portuguese authorities have extended the hours of vaccination centers, created new walk-in clinics, called up the armed forces to help run vaccination operations, and reduced the period between taking the two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from 12 weeks to eight weeks.
“We’re in a race against the clock,” Cabinet Minister Mariana Vieira da Silva said.
Read: Bangladesh receives 1st consignment of 2mn doses of Sinopharm vaccine
In the fight against vaccine hesitancy across Europe, the appearance of variants has fed public uncertainty about how effective the shots are. In Madrid this week, Claudia Aguilar, a 58-year-old archaeologist, got her second Pfizer-BioNTech jab at an auditorium that is expanding its working hours overnight.
Nevertheless, she said she is “not sure I’ll really be immune” against future variants.
“I mean, I’m a bit skeptical that this is going to do any good,” Aguilar said.
Bartender Yevgeniya Chernyshkova lined up for a shot at Moscow’s GUM department store just off Red Square after the Russian government required vaccinations for workers in some sectors.
“Now, it’s becoming mandatory and we all understand why — because the third wave of the pandemic has started here,” she said.
Fifteen months after WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, some governments appear more open to rewarding public patience than thinking about bringing back restrictions.
Some 40,000 fans went to England’s European Championship soccer match against Germany at London’s Wembley Stadium last week. In Portugal, new restrictions have been half-hearted, such as limiting restaurant opening hours on weekend nights.
In Moscow, however, restaurants, bars and cafes on Monday began admitting only customers who have been vaccinated, recovered from COVID-19 in the past six months or can provide a negative test in the previous 72 hours.
France lifted the last of its major restrictions Wednesday, allowing unlimited crowds in restaurants, at weddings and most cultural events despite fast-rising cases of the delta variant.
Tiago Correia, an associate professor at Lisbon’s Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, detects a mood of public impatience, especially among young people keen to enjoy warm summer nights.
“People want to return to normal more quickly than the vaccination rollout is happening,” he said.
The emerging variants have shone a light on the unprecedented scale of the immunization programs. The ECDC says in the countries it surveys, 61% of people over 18 have had one shot and 40% are completely vaccinated.
But Dr. Hans Kluge, the head of the WHO’s Europe office, cautioned this week that the delta variant is poised to become dominant by August in the 53-country region his office covers. And he notes that 63% of people in that region haven’t had a first jab.
“The three conditions for a new wave of excess hospitalizations and deaths before the (fall) are therefore in place: New variants, deficit in vaccine uptake, increased social mixing,” Kluge said.
Tropical Storm Elsa nears Cuba amid fears of flooding
Cuba prepared to evacuate people along the island’s southern region on Sunday amid fears that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash heavy flooding after battering several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people.
The government opened shelters and moved to protect sugarcane and cocoa crops ahead of the storm, whose next target was Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County where the high-rise condominium building collapsed last week.
Elsa was located about 175 miles (280 kilometers) east-southeast of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and was speeding west-northwest at 17 mph (28 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The storm killed one person in St. Lucia, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died Saturday in separate events in the Dominican Republic after walls collapsed on them, according to a statement from the Emergency Operations Center.
Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane up until Saturday morning, causing widespread damage in several eastern Caribbean islands on Friday as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. Among the hardest hit was Barbados, where more than 1,100 people reported damaged houses, including 62 homes that completely collapsed as the government promised to find and fund temporary housing to avoid clustering people in shelters amid the pandemic.
Also Read: How Cyclone Yaas was named
Downed trees also were reported in Haiti, which is especially vulnerable to floods and landslides because of widespread erosion and deforestation.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for Jamaica and from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince to the southern border with the Dominican Republic. A hurricane watch was issued for the Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, Las Tunas, and Santiago de Cuba. Some of those provinces have reported a high number of COVID-19 infections, raising concerns that the storm could force large groups of people to seek shelter together.
Read Khulna preparing for cyclone Yash
Elsa is the earliest fifth-named storm on record and also broke the record as the tropic’s fastest-moving hurricane, clocking in at 31 mph on Saturday morning, according to Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.
Also Read: Cyclone Yaas: Maritime ports in Bangladesh asked to hoist signal no 2
It is forecast to drop 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain with maximum totals of 15 inches (38 centimeters) across portions of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica.
2 dead, 20 missing after mudslide rips through Japan town
A gush of mud that swept away homes and cars in a resort town southwest of Tokyo left at least two people dead and about 20 missing, officials said Sunday.
Ten people were rescued and as many as 80 homes buried in Atami, where hundreds of firefighters, military troops and three coast guard ships worked from daybreak Saturday to try to reach those believed to be trapped or carried away by the mudslide.
The deluge crashed down a mountainside into rows of houses following heavy rains that began several days ago. Bystanders, their gasps of horror audible, caught the scene on cell phone video. Witnesses said they heard a giant roar and then watched helplessly as homes got gobbled up by the muddy waves.
Also read: 2 Rohingyas killed in landslide at Rohingya camps
The two people confirmed dead, both women, had been swept to the sea and were found by the coast guard, said Tatsushi Ueda, a Shizuoka prefecture official in charge of disaster prevention.
Of the 10 who were rescued, one suffered minor injuries. In Atami, 121 people had been evacuated, said Ueda.
Also read: Landslide in Gazipur’s Kapasia: Traffic movement suspended
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has set up a task force for the rescue effort.
Atami is a quaint seaside resort area in Shizuoka prefecture, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Tokyo. The area that was hit by the mudslide, Izusan, includes hot springs, residential areas, shopping streets and a famous shrine.
Also read: Cyclone Yaas: 25 villages flooded in Hatia, Bhasan Char Rohingya camps not affected
China's foreign minister says Indo-Pacific strategy should be dumped
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Saturday the Indo-Pacific strategy led by the United States is aimed at countering Beijing in a group and claimed the strategy "should be dumped at a trash heap."
Speaking in a forum on global security issues discussed under China's initiative, held at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Wang warned the strategy adopted by the United States, Japan and other countries is forming a siege against Beijing.
Also read: Xi takes firm line as China Communist Party marks centenary
Apparently referring to the Group of Seven industrialized countries and the Quad grouping of the United States, Japan, India and Australia, Wang also said China opposes a framework of cooperation to "fuel rivalry" and "an action to accelerate division."
As the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has been increasingly promoting relations with Taiwan, Wang claimed the United States is encouraging Taiwan's independence.
Also read: At 100, China’s Communist Party looks to cement its future
Regarding Japan's decision to release treated radioactive water into the sea from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant announced in April, Wang urged Tokyo not to discharge the water without the consent of neighboring countries and international organizations.
In the speech made two days after China celebrated the 100th birthday of the ruling Communist Party on Thursday, he said, "Today's China is no longer the same country of 100 years ago."
Hurricane Elsa races toward Haiti amid fears of landslides
Hurricane Elsa raced toward Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Saturday, where it threatened to unleash flooding and landslides before taking aim at Cuba and Florida.
The Category 1 storm was located about 395 miles (635 kilometers) east-southeast of Isla Beata, Dominican Republic and was moving west-northwest at 29 mph (46 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph), with the hurricane expected to become a tropical storm after hitting Cuba, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The long-term forecast track showed it heading toward Florida as a tropical storm by Tuesday morning, but some models would carry it into the Gulf or up the Atlantic Coast.
Also read: Biden doubling spending to prepare for hurricanes, storms
In Haiti, authorities used social media to alert people about the hurricane and urged them to evacuate if they lived near water or mountain flanks.
“The whole country is threatened by this hurricane,” the Civil Protection Agency said in a statement. “Make every effort to escape before it’s too late.”
Haiti is especially vulnerable to floods and landslides because of widespread erosion and deforestation.
Also read: Indonesia landslides death toll rises to 126, dozens missing
A hurricane warning was issued for for Jamaica and from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince to Punta Palenque in the Dominican Republic. A hurricane watch was in effect for the Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, Las Tunas, and Santiago de Cuba. Some of those provinces have reported a high number of COVID-19 infections, raising concerns that the storm could force large groups of people to seek shelter together.
In the neighboring Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, authorities opened more than 2,400 shelters as forecasters warned of heavy rains starting Saturday before dawn.
Also read: Haiti fights large COVID-19 spike as it awaits vaccines
Elsa is forecast to brush past the southernmost point of Hispaniola by early Saturday afternoon and then take aim at communities in southern Haiti. The storm already ripped off roofs, destroyed crops and downed trees and power lines in the eastern Caribbean on Friday, with damage reported in Barbados, St. Lucia and in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which are struggling to recover from massive volcanic eruptions that began in April.
Elsa is the first hurricane of the Atlantic season and the earliest fifth-named storm on record. It is forecast to drop 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain with maximum totals of 15 inches (38 centimeters) across portions of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica.
At least 19 missing as mudslide west of Tokyo hits houses
A powerful mudslide carrying a deluge of black water and debris crashed into rows of houses in a town west of Tokyo following heavy rains on Saturday, leaving at least 19 people missing, officials said.
Dozens of homes may have been buried in Atami, a town known for hot springs, said Shizuoka prefecture spokesman Takamichi Sugiyama.
Public broadcaster NHK gave the number of missing people at 20, but Sugiyama said the prefecture confirmed at least 19, although he said the number may grow.
Also read: Floods and mudslides kill 4, another 7 missing in Sri Lanka
Torrential rains have slammed parts of Japan starting earlier this week. Experts said dirt had been loosened, increasing landslide risks in a country filled with valleys and mountains.
Shizuoka Gov. Heita Kawakatsu told reporters that the Coast Guard had discovered two people who had been washed into the sea by the mudslide. Their hearts had stopped, but their deaths were not yet officially declared, he said. Other details of their identity were not released.
“I offer my deepest condolences to everyone who has suffered,” he said, adding that utmost efforts will be made to rescue lives.
Both Kawakatsu and Sugiyama said it had been raining hard in the area all morning. Self-defense forces will join firefighters and police in the rescue operation, and a minister from the national government had also arrived, they said.
Japanese media reports said Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called an emergency meeting for his Cabinet.
Also read: Hope for more survivors ebbs in Brazil area hit by mudslides
Evacuation warnings were issued for a wide area, including the so-called “Level 5,” which is the highest possible alert.
The landslides appeared to have struck multiple times, about as fast as a car. Footage showed a powerful, black mudslide slither down a mountain, knocking over and crushing houses and sweeping away cars in its path. Helpless neighbors watched in horror, some recording on their phones.
Also read: Heavy rains in Kenya cause flooding, mudslides that kill 17
NHK TV footage showed a part of a bridge had collapsed.
Atami is a quaint seaside resort area in Shizuoka prefecture, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Tokyo. The area that was hit by the mudslide, Izusan, includes hot springs, residential areas, shopping streets and a famous shrine.