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The Yomiuri Shimbun Firefighters search for missing people near the Tsukada River in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Sunday.
By Senri Hiramatsu and Tsubasa Narishima / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers
16:01 JST, September 23, 2024
KANAZAWA — Police, firefighters and Self-Defense Force personnel began taking part in an intensive search and rescue operation in Ishikawa Prefecture’s Noto region as of Sunday, after record-breaking rainfall hit the area the day before. Families and friends of those missing watched as they waded through muddy waters, hoping for the safety of their missing ones.
The flood washed away several houses in the Futegawamachi district of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture. The town was hit by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake in January this year. Takaya Kiso, 42, watched on as Self-Defense Force personnel and local firefighters searched for his 14-year-old daughter downstream of the Tsukada River on Sunday morning.
It had been a day since Kiso had been able to reach his oldest daughter, Hanon, a third-grade student at Wajima Junior High School, who was at home when the flood washed away their house.
The last time he heard her voice was at about 9:50 a.m. on Saturday.
“I can’t open the door of my room. I can’t escape from the window either because the outside looks like it’s turned into the sea,” Hanon hastily said. She was home alone at the time and showed a muddy stream outside her window via video call to her father. Kiso was at work in the city and had called her, worried about the heavy rain.
Sana, his 25-year-old wife, called Hanon from where she was right after his call and told her to “evacuate to the highest place you can.” Hanon responded, “Okay.” However, Sana lost contact with her at 10 a.m.
Kiso walked along the flooded road and managed to reach his home after midday, only to find the foundation left standing. “I called out, ‘Hanon, Hanon,’ but I heard no answer. She wasn’t there anymore,” Kiso said. He immediately asked the police to search for her.
He is proud of his bright and intelligent daughter. Hanon leads the art club at her school. She always gets good scores in her school exams and has been studying hard for the entrance exam to a high school in Kanazawa.
She immediately got along well with Sana, whom Kiso married two years ago. Hanon cares her family by doing various things such as washing the dishes. She happily told them about her school trip, which took place in mid-September.
“I hope she will be found as soon as possible. I want to hold her,” Kiso said, forcing the words out of him.
Temporary housing hit
The heavy rain caused flooding above the floor level in nine temporary housing locations in Wajima and Suzu in the prefecture that house victims of the quake. The residents, who are in the process of rebuilding their lives, lamented the situation.
The muddy water was knee deep at the temporary housing in Wajima’s Takudamachi district on Sunday morning. The nearby river overflowed on Saturday, causing flooding above the floor levels. Chest-deep water in some houses forced residents to evacuate to shelters or stay in cars the whole night.
One 68-year-old woman spent the night with her husband in their car. Her house collapsed due to the earthquake, and she began living in a temporary house in July after living in a shelter.
“I had finally started a normal life. I have to restart from scratch again,” she said.
