Shinzo Abe to tour worst-affected areas as dozens still missing and 10,000 in emergency shelters
Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, will meet evacuees at on Wednesday at one of the areas worst-hit by record rains as the death toll rose to 179 and thousands remained stranded in shelters.
Abe, who cancelled a foreign trip this week as the disaster worsened, was due to visit the flood-ravaged Okayama area to see the scale of the damage first-hand.
With dozens reportedly still missing, the toll from the worst weather-related disaster in Japan in over three decades was expected to rise further.
Rescue workers on Wednesday were still digging through the aftermath of flash floods and landslides that swallowed whole neighbourhoods, but hopes were fading that any new survivors could be found.
Abe was scheduled to fly over the Mabi district to view the damage, and meet with evacuees and local officials to discuss their needs.
Over 10,000 people were still in shelters across large parts of central and western Japan, local media said, including at a school in the town of Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture.
Around 300 people spent the night at the Okada Elementary School, many of them sleeping on blue mats laid out in the school’s gym.
