熊本の豪雨

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今年はunusually long spell of rainy season＝長い梅雨が、各地に大雨を降らせました。

This year’s season dumped more rain than usual on many areas.

※spell=（天候等の）一続きの期間　→period

※dump=どさっと落とす、降ろす

7月には豪雨が熊本を襲い、浸水や土砂崩れを起こし、球磨川からあふれる濁流に街がつかりました。

More torrential rain（豪雨→） struck Japan's southwestern region of Kyushu, causing flooding and mudslides in many areas.

※torrential rain=豪雨　→ downpour/deluge なども

Large areas of Hitoyoshi town in Kumamoto were inundated in muddy waters that gushed out from the Kuma River.

※inundate＝水浸しにする、浸水させる

※gush out=〔液体が〕どんどん［勢いよく・どくどくと］流れ出す、噴き出す、あふれ出す 〔温泉が〕湧出する

球磨川の堤防が決壊。未明の警報に避難が間に合わず、近くの特養では多くの入居者が被害に遭いました。

Of the 49 fatalities in flood-ravaged Kumamoto, 14 were from the Senjuen nursing home near the Kuma River, which overran (→overflow) its banks at 11 locations and broke one levee.

※fatality=死者数

※flood-ravaged=洪水に見舞われた　　ravage=荒らす、破壊する

※nursing home　はここでは特養（特別養護老人ホーム）　→intensive care home for the elderly

※levee＝堤防　→bank/embankment/dike

※未明＝before dawn/predawn/ the wee hours (午前0時すぎから午前4時頃までの深夜) weeちっぽけな

梅雨前線はゆっくりと進んでおり、気象庁は引き続き警戒が必要だとしています。

The rain front is expected to linger for several more days, moving toward east Japan.

“Vigilance is required across the nation … the risk level is rising,” an official of the Meteorological Agency warned.

※linger=だらだら長引く、ぐずぐずする

※vigilance=警戒、寝ずの番

生存率が急激に下がるのが『72時間』。警察、消防、海上保安庁、自衛隊も動員されました。救助に当たる人は『時間との闘いだ』と述べました。“We are racing against clock.”

Search efforts for the missing continued although the initial 72-hour period considered critical for finding people alive has passed at many of the sites hit by landslides and floods.　

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was doubling the deployment of rescue personnel, including police and firefighters as well as coast guard personnel and the SDF, to 80,000.

山沿いではまだ孤立している個所もあります。

People living in mountainous areas had been stranded with phone, electricity and water services cut. Local authorities were transporting them to evacuation centers.

※be stranded＝座礁する、取り残される、立ち往生する

大勢が避難をしましたが、コロナ対策で段ボールの壁を作るなど追加の対策も必要です。

Some 1,500 people had taken shelter at 86 evacuation centers across the prefecture as of Sunday afternoon as the downpour caused mudslides and floods, severing roads and leaving many houses without water or power.

In Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, authorities converted the local sports gymnasium into a shelter, with families separated off by cardboard walls (段ボールの壁) to prevent the spread of the virus.

コロナ禍の最中の大雨で、観光業はダブルパンチを被っています。

For some local business owners already battered by the coronavirus crisis, the natural disaster has compounded their problems.　　

※compound=混ぜ合わせる、度を増す、いっそうひどくする

An official at　a tourism bureau in the hot-spring resort in Yatsushiro said that the “beautiful tourism spot dramatically changed overnight.” 

“The damage was beyond our imagination. It’s literally a bolt from the blue. (青天のへきれき) … 

The disaster is a double-whammy as our hot spring resort was struggling to weather（乗り切る、しのぐ） the impact of coronavirus. We don’t know what will happen to us next,” he said.

※double-whammy=〈米俗〉二重苦、ダブルパンチ   double punch/double blowでもOK

whammy=悪運をもたらす超自然力、凶眼、邪視、魔力、魔法、強力な攻撃、致命的な一撃

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