TOKYO, (PNA/Kyodo) — Izu Oshima Island braced itself for more heavy rain Saturday after being battered earlier in the week by a powerful typhoon that left 25 dead and 22 missing.
Local authorities are still searching for survivors after Typhoon Wipha, the 26th of the year, brought torrential rainfall to the island south of Tokyo on Wednesday, causing mudslides that destroyed houses and buried residents alive.
The search has already passed 72 hours, cited by experts as the crucial post-disaster time frame for finding survivors. Some 1,200 people are involved in the search, including officers of the Metropolitan Police Department, rescue teams of the Tokyo Fire Department and members of the Self-Defense Forces.