Hundreds of thousands residents of Japan evacuated their homes on Monday as a powerful typhoon flooded streets, destroying houses.
BBC News reports that over 400,000 residents of Kyoto, Shiga, Hyogo, and Mie were forced to evacuate their homes.
At some points last night, Kyoto experienced as much as 3 inches of rainfall per hour.
Kyoto’s Katsura River overflowed into the city, forcing inhabitants to navigate the streets in boats.
The Japan Meteorological Agency, called the downpour in Kyoto “an unprecedented amount of rainfall.”
USA Today reports a 72-year-old woman was killed when a mudslide slammed into her house Sunday night. As of yet, officials have counted one death and a dozen other injured.
Many worry about the area’s power plants which have had issues in the past containing radioactive waste. Tokyo Electric Power Company handled excess rainwater by pumping it into the Pacific Ocean. This could be a potential violation of safety rules depending on whether the radioactive level of the water was below discharge limits.
Agence France-Presse quotes Yo Koshimizu, spokesman for TEPCO, “we decided to release the water into sea [after concluding] it can be regarded as rainfall after we monitored levels of radiation.”
Duty regulators are currently checking whether TEPCO’s actions meets safety regulations.