Torrential rain near Tokyo causes flooding and paralyzes traffic, killing 1

TOKYO (AP) — Record-breaking heavy rain pounded eastern Japan Thursday, flooding roads and homes, paralyzing traffic and causing power outages to tens of thousands of homes near Tokyo, officials said. At least one person was found dead.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued its most severe warning for heavy rain in 14 municipalities in the Chiba prefecture, warning residents of floods and landslides.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said one person was found dead in Ichikawa city, while two people who were trapped inside a flooded car were rescued in the nearby Kashiwa city. Their conditions were not known.

Footage on NHK News showed pedestrians outside the Ichikawa train station wading through floodwater up to their knees, and vehicles stuck on flooded roads elsewhere. Some trains in the area were suspended.

Record-breaking rainfall exceeding 100 millimeters (4 inches) was forecast in just one hour in Chiba City and a number of other nearby cities Thursday night, NHK said. Nearly 220,000 residents in the area were advised to take shelter at safer grounds, the agency said.

JMA forecast official Takuya Hosomi told a televised emergency news conference that unprecedented levels of rainfall were recorded.

The heavy rain comes a day after a tropical storm battered northeastern Japan, injuring at least seven, toppling trees and causing widespread blackouts.

The torrential rain and flooding also caused power outages to 68,000 homes, according to the TEPCO Power Grid.

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LONDON (AP) — The U.K. recorded its hottest day of the year Thursday, reaching 38.1 degrees Celsius (100.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in west London, the national weather service said, as an intense stretch of hot weather continued to grip Europe.

The Met Office said the temperature surpassed this year’s previous high of 38 C (100.4 F), recorded on June 28. It remained below the U.K.’s August record of 38.5 C (101.3 F), set in 2003.

Britain, like France, is experiencing its fifth heat wave of the year.

Temperatures in France, meanwhile, have gone even higher, approaching 41 C (106 F) in several areas, from Aquitaine in the southwest to the Rhone River valley in the east, according to the national weather service.

The most intense heat is forecast to move eastward away from Britain and France on Friday and then recede over the weekend.

This summer has shown that both Britain and France are ill-equipped to deal with these levels of heat. Air conditioning is a rarity outside of shops and offices, for example.

In Britain, nurses have collapsed from heat exhaustion while working in hospitals, many housed in aging buildings that lack adequate cooling, the Royal College of Nursing said Thursday.

“When nursing staff are collapsing, feeling dizzy, sick or even being admitted to the very hospitals they work in because their workplaces cannot handle the heat, it shows just how badly they are being failed,” said Nicola Ranger, the college’s chief executive and general secretary.

Like many parts of Europe, Britain and France are facing widespread drought conditions that have shriveled crops and drained rivers, heaping pressure on water resources for households, agriculture and the environment, and forcing governments and water users to seek both short- and long-term measures to mitigate the effects of human-caused climate change.

Britain’s Southern Water, which oversees supplies in the south of England, has applied for a rare drought order which would ban businesses from nonessential water use, including cleaning cars and filling nondomestic swimming pools, saying an “exceptional” lack of rain is threatening supplies. Environment Secretary Angela Eagle will decide on the application, which would be the first such ban since May 2006.

With temperatures soaring, many people headed to beaches and outdoor pools or found other ways to cool off. In Bordeaux in southwestern France, children and adults sought relief in the city’s iconic “water mirror.” Some frolicked in fountains, splashed their faces and filled up water bottles. Birds too quenched their thirst.

With the land parched and no sign of any meaningful rain coming, authorities in Britain and France remain on high alert for wildfires.

In Britain, which is increasingly looking sandy brown rather than its traditional luscious green, firefighters have been out in force this week trying to contain a wildfire in the New Forest in southern England.

Some 1,017 wildfires have been recorded in England and Wales this year, according to data from the National Fire Chiefs Council, the same as last year’s record-breaking total.

Though not on the same level as those witnessed in France, Greece and Spain, they provide ample evidence of the need for the U.K. to adjust to a new reality.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will consider imposing a ban on disposable barbecues amid the risk of further wildfires as extreme heat continues to grip parts of the U.K.

“I do believe we need to get the message out loud and clear,” he said. “People should not be using those barbecues outside at this moment in time.”

French firefighters were back in action too after a desperate summer and are threatening to go on strike to demand more staff and resources to cope with increasingly extreme weather events.

One broke out late Wednesday in the northern Pas-de-Calais region, and another in Brittany, far from the hotter, drier and more fire-prone regions in southern France. A historic fire devoured forests near Bordeaux last month and pushed a quarter of a million people from their homes.

Charlton reported from Paris.