Abe visits flood-hit town as rescuers search for missing

JOSO CITY, Japan: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday visited a disaster-struck city north of Tokyo in the aftermath of massive flooding that killed at least four people, as rescuers raced against time to find more than a dozen still missing.
Parts of Joso, a community of 65,000 residents, were washed away on Thursday when a levee on the Kinugawa River gave way, flooding an area that reportedly spans 32 square kilometres after the worst rains in decades.
Dramatic aerial footage showed whole houses being swept away by raging torrents in scenes eerily reminiscent of the devastating tsunami that crushed Japan’s northeast coast four years ago.
“I felt more dead than alive,” said a man who was rescued on Saturday morning after days trapped inside his home.
“I lived by drinking tea as there was no food. I’m so glad that they came to rescue me,” he told public broadcaster NHK.
Akinori Nagaoka, 39, returned home with his son to find the first floor of the house flooded with muddy brown water.
“I have never seen anything like this before. I wonder when we can come back and live like it was,” he told AFP.
Later in the day, police found the body of a man in another river in Miyagi, northern Japan, a police spokesman said, bringing the death toll to four.
While police have yet to identify the man, he was believed to be a 62-year-old missing in the prefecture where people also suffered floods, local media reported.