Record rainfall in Japan left thousands of travelers stuck at Tokyo’s Narita airport on Friday. Heavy downpours flooded nearby areas, disrupted transport, cut power to thousands of homes, and claimed eight lives.
During one of Japan’s busiest holiday weeks, more than 360 mm of rain fell in just 24 hours across parts of Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo. The intense downpour submerged roads and railway lines. Authorities quickly deployed soldiers to support rescue operations in the worst affected zones.
Chiba Governor Toshihito Kumagai described the situation as extremely unusual. He told reporters he had handled many disasters before but had never faced anything quite like this. Public broadcaster NHK reported that the eight deaths included one person found trapped inside a submerged vehicle, according to local police and officials.
At Narita airport, staff handed out sleeping bags, water, and snacks to hundreds of stranded passengers. Many had already spent the night on the floor after transport links collapsed on Thursday, leaving around 7,000 people unable to leave. One traveler, 48 year old Minoru Yamasaki, said he waited four hours for a taxi. He had booked a hotel but was told it could not accommodate him, so he returned to the airport with nowhere else to go.
An airport spokesperson expected most flights to return to normal operations on Friday. Meanwhile, more than 20,000 homes lost electricity early Friday after rain flooded a power substation operated by Tokyo Electric Power. Gas supply to nearly 13,000 households was also temporarily interrupted.
In Chiba city, one of the hardest hit locations, hundreds of residents spent the night under foil blankets at temporary evacuation centers set up inside government buildings. Several major highways remained closed, forcing drivers onto alternative routes that quickly became congested, according to highway operator NEXCO East. Some rail services stayed suspended, although limited trains from Narita to Tokyo gradually resumed and helped ease the crowd at the airport.
Weather officials confirmed that 367 mm of rain fell in Chiba over 24 hours. That figure broke the previous local record of 309 mm set in October 2013. The combination of extreme rain, flooded infrastructure, and holiday travel created widespread disruption across the region.
