Death toll on Noto Peninsula rises to 9 after heavy rain and flooding

The death toll after the weekend’s heavy rain that hit the northern part of the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture rose to nine on Wednesday.
A woman’s body was found in the city of Wajima on Wednesday morning.
Two people were still missing and search operations continued on Wednesday after the end of the crucial 72-hour window since the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a heavy rain emergency warning for the northern part of the peninsula, on Saturday morning, public broadcaster NHK said. Six people also remained unaccounted for.
As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, 46 communities, mainly in Wajima, were isolated, leaving at least 367 people stranded, according to the prefecture. A total of 621 people were taking shelter at evacuation centers in 37 locations in Wajima, the city of Suzu and the town of Noto.
Some 2,900 households were without electricity, and water supplies were cut to about 5,200 households.
About 40 volunteers have entered Wajima, and are removing mud and waste left by the disaster in inundated temporary housing that had been built for those whose homes were damaged by the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck the peninsula on Jan. 1, prefectural officials said.
Japanese Princess Aiko was scheduled to visit the areas in the Noto Peninsula to check the progress of reconstruction from the quake this weekend, but has canceled her trip considering the current situation, the Imperial Household Agency said Tuesday.
The princess, the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, had been set to visit the town of Shika on Saturday and the city of Nanao on Sunday to inspect temporary buildings and other facilities. Both municipalities in Ishikawa Prefecture had been hit hard by the Jan. 1 quake that rocked the peninsula.
The trip was to be the first occasion for the 22-year-old princess to perform official duties outside of Tokyo alone.