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Police and firefighters in Kanagawa Prefecture sent patrols to a popular campsite in Yamakita on Saturday and Sunday to warn campers about the dangers of flash flooding.
The patrols were arranged after a mother and her two children were drowned when their car was caught in a flash flood at the campsite on Aug 1.
About 30 officials met with campers to explain the dangers of flash floods, and how quickly they can develop into a destructive surge of water, TBS reported. Leaflets were handed out to 300 campers.
At around 8 p.m. on Aug 1, Shinya Omori, 43, his wife Rumi, 42, and their two children, daughter Mana, 9, and son Gaifu, 7, were leaving the campsite following heavy rain when their car was hit by a torrent as it tried to cross the Kochi River. Police said that as the family’s car crossed the river, which was ankle-deep at the time, it was caught in a surge of water one meter deep, TBS reported.
According to the weather bureau, more than 51 millimeters of rain fell in the 30 minutes from 7:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Omori told police afterwards that there had been no alert from the campsite manager to evacuate, but that he decided it would be safer to cross the river, where his family had camped, to the main campsite on the other side.
Police said the car overturned. Although Omori was able to get out, his wife and two children were swept away, police said.
© Japan Today
2 Comments
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SenseNotSoCommon
Bolting the stable door.
Dylan Bodington
This is not quite how the idiom is phrased, and surely closing the stable door to prevent all the other horses from bolting is quite sensible.