Torrential rains struck Chiba prefecture on the night of August 13, 2026, killing at least five people and forcing mass evacuations across eastern Japan, The Guardian reported. An earlier BBC News tally had put the death toll at four.
Chiba lies east of Tokyo. Rainfall peaked at 115mm per hour during the storm, roughly equivalent to the prefecture's typical total for the entire month of August. Landslide warnings were triggered across the area, and about 45,000 homes lost electrical power. An earlier BBC count had placed outages at more than 20,000 households.
Mandatory evacuation orders covered more than 400,000 people in Chiba and nearby areas, according to The Guardian. Thousands of displaced residents took shelter in government buildings. Close to 7,000 travelers were stranded at Narita airport, with both outlets describing the rainfall as "unprecedented."