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http://www.weather.com/storms/typhoon/news/tropical-storm-etau-japan-flooding-landslides

Dramatic helicopter rescues unfolded on live television in Japan Thursday as a flood-swollen river breached a levee, sending raging floodwaters into a neighborhood north of Tokyo and leaving dozens of residents trapped on the roofs or upper floors of their homes. At least three people are missing in Japan due to flooding and landslides caused by extreme rainfall resulting from former Tropical Storm Etau.

Rare emergency warnings for heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides were issued for nearly 5 million people in two prefectures near Tokyo Thursday morning as torrential rain continued to inundate parts of Japan, flooding hundreds of homes.

Just after midnight early Thursday (Japan time), the Japan Meteorological Agency issued an emergency warning for heavy rainfall in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, where more than 20 inches of rain fell in 24 hours in some locations. (Japan is 13 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Daylight Time.)

Shortly before 8 a.m. local time Thursday, JMA added nearly all of Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, to the emergency heavy rainfall warning as the heavy rain band shifted ever so slightly to the east and rivers burst their banks as runoff from rain elsewhere drained into rivers flowing through the prefecture.

As Etau moved north into the Sea of Japan Wednesday, a trailing north-south-oriented band of heavy rain stalled over the Kanto region, including Tokyo. Even though Etau was declared post-tropical late Wednesday evening, the band of rain continued to bring torrential rainfall over Tokyo and points to the north well into the daylight hours Thursday.

The resulting rainfall has been exceptionally heavy. JMA said the rainfall amounts being observed are to be expected roughly once every 50 years in some areas, raising concerns of unusually serious flooding and landslides.

According to the Tochigi Prefecture government, a landslide early Thursday in the city of Kanuma left one person missing and another person injured. Kanuma reported 444 millimeters (17.48 inches) of rain in the 24-hour period ending at 6 a.m. local time Thursday; in records that began in 1976, this was more than double the city’s previous 24-hour record of 212 mm (8.35 inches) set July 11, 2002.

The incident was one of 17 landslides reported by the prefectural government as of midday Thursday. One home each was damaged in two of the landslides, and 11 people were trapped but later rescued in another of the incidents. The government said five people were stranded in Nikkō due to flooding on a local river Wednesday night; firefighters rescued them around daybreak Thursday.

The incident was one of 17 landslides reported by the prefectural government as of midday Thursday. One home each was damaged in two of the landslides, and 11 people were trapped but later rescued in another of the incidents. The government said five people were stranded in Nikkō due to flooding on a local river Wednesday night; firefighters rescued them around daybreak Thursday.

Meanwhile, JMA issued its highest level of flood warning for the Kinugawa River Thursday morning. The river drains southward through the prefectures north of Tokyo. Early Thursday afternoon, the river breached a levee in the city of Joso, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Japan’s Self-Defense Force sent helicopters to the scene, plucking a number of people from rooftops and the top stories of homes near the stricken levee. Japanese television stations broadcast some of the dramatic scenes live as they happened during the early afternoon hours Thursday.

In one disturbing scene, two people were seen struggling to cling to the roof of what appeared to be a garage or shed as the structure began to crumble beneath them and collapse into the raging floodwaters. The television broadcast, streamed live on the website houdoukyoku.jp, quickly cut away from the images to show its in-studio anchors. The fate of the couple is not immediately clear.

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From afar the Earth seems calm, a blue sphere turning peacefully in space, but travel closer and you find a turbulent and terrifying place. An atmosphere where hurricanes and tornados are spawned, and below that a realm of volcanos and earthquakes.

Starting just before New Year’s Day, on Boxing Day 2004, the year 2005 was the most disastrous on record, with hundreds of billions of pounds of losses and more than half a million deaths. This programme covers the litany of planetary catastrophes, from the extraordinary Boxing Day killer tsunami in the Indian Ocean, through the great Kashmir earthquake to Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it wrought on New Orleans, along with UK events, such as the Birmingham tornado, which reached the highest tornado category, yet miraculously killed no-one.

2005 saw an onslaught of epic-scale climate and geological events across the world, all caught on camera in the most spectacular fashion by professionals and amateurs alike. Using eye-witness footage, interviews with survivors and rescuers and analysis from geological and weather specialists, this documentary charts the incredible natural events of a year where almost every month was affected by a natural disaster.

At that time it was the hottest year on record, and the stormiest, people on every continent were affected in some way by the year’s disasters. World leading scientists and climatologists speculate whether the events have been triggered by a real shift in the earth’s climatic systems.

Some of the natural disasters covered in this documentary :

Indian Ocean Earthquake and Asian Tsunami

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred on 26th December with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The earthquake was caused when the Indian Plate was subducted by the Burma Plate and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 metres high.

Maharashtra Floods

The 2005 Maharashtra floods refers to the flooding of many parts of the Indian state of Maharashtra including large areas of the metropolis Mumbai a city located on the coast of the Arabian Sea, on the western coast of India, in which at least 5,000 people died.

Birmingham Tornado

The Birmingham tornado was one of the strongest tornadoes recorded in the United Kingdom in nearly 30 years, occurring on 28th July 2005 in the suburbs of Birmingham. The tornado uprooted an estimated 1,000 trees, removed the roofs of buildings, picked up and deposited cars and caused other damage during its short existence.

European Floods

The 2005 European floods hit mainly Romania, Switzerland, Austria and Germany, as well as several other countries in Central Europe and Eastern Europe during August. The disaster came at a time when Portugal was suffering from intense forest fires which left 15 dead.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest and most destructive Atlantic tropical cyclone of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. At least 1,833 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods. The most significant number of deaths occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, which flooded as the levee system catastrophically failed.

Kashmir Earthquake

The Kashmir earthquake occurred on 8th October 2005 and was centred in the Pakistan administered Kashmir near the city of Muzaffarabad, and also affected the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It registered a moment magnitude of 7.6. The government of Pakistan’s official death toll was 75,000. The severity of the damage caused by the earthquake is attributed to severe upthrust, coupled with poor construction.

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