Typhoon no. 19 - we're OK!

Blog entry for October 2019

The biggest typhoon for sixty years struck eastern Japan on Saturday, 12 October, and caused huge amounts of flooding. Compared with typhoon Ida in 1958, the country is vastly more prepared with flood defences, so the casualty figures are under 10 percent of those in 1958. But Sano was in the news, because the local river, Akiyamagawa, just minutes away from our house, was one place where the bank gave way, causing significant flooding just downriver from us. The amount of rainfall here did not feel exceptional, but the catchment area up in the mountains is where the fiercest storm was.

We are on the slightly higher side of the river, and were completely unaffected by flooding. This was an isolated incident, but in the mountains of central Japan the flooding is bad, particularly on Chikumagawa, the name given to the upper reaches of Shinanogawa, which is the longest river in Japan.

Our sympathies go to all who have lost family and friends, and our commiseration to those left with the very unpleasant job of clearing up a house that has been inundated.