Tokyo, Aug 21 (IANS/EFE): The toll in heavy rains and landslides in Hiroshima in Japan has risen to 39 as rescuers Thursday continued to search for seven people missing, officials said.
The city was hit by record rainfall Wednesday, equivalent to precipitations for the whole of August, leading authorities to advise the evacuation of 26,000 homes in the worst-affected mountainous areas.
Some 500 members of Japan's Self Defence Forces have been deployed in the area to search for survivors.
The dead include three children and a firefighter taking part in rescue operations.
tHE Japan Meteorological Agency sounded a rain alert Wednesday, only one hour before firefighters started receiving the first calls for help as landslides buried homes and people were swept away by the floods.
Hiroshima faced similar torrential rains in 1999 which left 20 people dead.