Record rain paralyses Narita airport transport, 4,200 stranded

Record rainfall in Japan's Chiba prefecture has caused severe flooding, cutting off all rail, bus and road links to Narita International Airport and stranding more than 4,000 passengers at the terminals on Thursday night.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued its highest-level emergency heavy rain warning for at least 20 cities and towns including Chiba and Ichihara. One death has been reported. Chiba and three other cities also received level-5 landslide warnings.

Chiba's central ward recorded more than 115mm of rain in one hour, nearly matching the average for the entire month of August. Around 46,000 households lost power.

The flooding halted JR and Keisei electric railway services, airport buses and taxis. Narita airport confirmed at least 4,250 passengers were stranded by 10pm, with staff distributing sleeping bags, biscuits and water.

Hong Kong travellers were among those affected, with some sharing on social media that they had to sleep at the airport while others were rescued by friends who drove through the storm.

The weather is expected to remain unstable through late Friday, with up to 200mm of rain forecast in 24 hours.

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓