Tokyo, August 14, 2026 — Four people have died and another remains unresponsive after torrential rain battered eastern Japan from Thursday into early Friday, triggering widespread flooding and high-level emergency alerts.
The Japan Meteorological Agency briefly issued a Level 5 warning — the highest on its disaster alert scale — covering more than one-third of the municipalities in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo. All emergency warnings were downgraded on Friday morning.
Severe road flooding inundated communities across Chiba Prefecture. Authorities in cities including Chiba and Ichikawa urged residents to take immediate safety measures. Several municipalities, including Chiba and neighbouring Ichihara, were also placed under Level 5 landslide warnings.
At the peak of the downpour, evacuation orders were issued for more than 400,000 residents across Chiba and Ibaraki prefectures. As of 7 am. Friday, around 126,000 people remained under evacuation orders. Over 200 evacuation shelters were opened across Chiba, Ibaraki, Saitama and Gunma prefectures.
Around 1,800 stranded commuters gathered overnight at the Chiba prefectural government building, which was opened as a temporary shelter. Power outages affected approximately 45,000 homes in Chiba Prefecture at one point.
