The 1953 North Kyushu flood was a flood which hit Northern Kyushu, Japan in June 1953. The flood was caused by cloudbursts and prolonged rain from the Meiyu rain front which dropped 1,000 mm of rain over Mount Aso and Mount Hiko. This downpour resulted in the overflow of many of the surrounding rivers, such as the Chikugo River. The flood was a major disaster with 1,001 people dead or missing, 450,000 houses flooded, and about 1 million people affected. Due to the severity of the disaster, flood control measures along rivers in Northern Kyushu were fundamentally revised, with many of the changes still in place. The flood was not given an official name by the Japan Meteorological Agency which has resulted in it being referred to differently in a variety of sources. In Kumamoto Prefecture, Shirakawa Great Flood or 6.26 Flood are usually used. In Kitakyushu city, they tend to use North Kyushu Great Flood.
Causes
The flood was the result of a combination of meteorological and geological factors that contributed to large amounts of precipitation as well as topographical features which exacerbated the effects of the precipitation.
Meteorological
Early June the Meiyu rain front had briefly come to a standstill over north-central Kyushu, raining over the city of Fukuoka and Nagasaki at the start before latter bringing rains over Kumamoto. Later the front moved south over Amami Ōshima before fluctuating between Amami Ōshima and Yakushima. Meanwhile from the south, the Pacific High in the area around the Philippines began to grow in strength and push the rain front into the Tsushima Strait. At the same time a mobile anticyclone from China began pushing the rain front back towards Yakushima. Trapped between these two competing forces the rain front became stabilized over Mount Aso around June 23. Moist, warm air from the high pressure areas stimulated the rain front while low pressure waves that would have normally passed through were instead redirected through the Tsushima Strait. Working in tandem these meteorological conditions generated the cloudbursts and prolonged rain that led to the unprecedented amount of precipitation over northern Kyushu.
Precipitation
Geographical
In addition to the heavy precipitation, geographical factors contributed to and exacerbated the flood. Mount Aso, one of the largest active volcanoes in the world, has produced throughout the surrounding area a lava cap of andesite which is poorly permeable to water. Additionally, deforestation during and after the Second Would War had decreased the local water retention capacity. These factors combined to allow the precipitation to quickly flow unimpeded into nearby waterways which subsequently exceeded their capacities. Furthermore, just two months prior on April 27, Mt. Aso had erupted and deposited 5.16 metric tons of ash which combined with the rain water to produce a debris flow. Topographically, the rivers in northern Kyushu tend to follow steep grades which cause them to flow rapidly downstream. Additionally the river systems in the area have larger drainage basins upstream than middle- and downstream with the Shirakawa River and Chikugo River having drainage basin ratios of 80% and 70% respectively between their upstream and downstream systems. These topographical features resulted in the upstream systems quickly accumulating and transporting water in amounts that the lower stream systems couldn’t handle.
Flood
Flood in Kumamoto, 6.26 Great Flood
In Kumamoto Prefecture, the central river Shirakawa flooded most severely, and people remember it by the name of 6.26 Suigai. The factors of the 6.26 flood were: heavy rain in the Aso district, the rainfall reached 888.4 mm in 5 days, another factor being the soil of the areas; it contained layers rich in yona over lava; which easily liquefies on heavy rain.
On April 27, Mount Aso erupted and a great amount of volcanic ash which fell was mixed with rain; producing peculiar debris flow in the Kurokawa river and Shirakawa river merging into Shirakawa into Kumamoto.
The third factor was the Kumamoto city; the river Shirakawa was the so-called tenjo-kawa, or a ceiling river, namely, the river bed is higher than its surroundings such as Shimotori. These factors worsened the damage of the flood.
70% of the then Kumamoto city was flooded, except the Kyomachi Hills and Kengun area. The central areas of Kumamoto City were 2.5 meters to 3 meters deep in muddy water. 15 bridges out of 17 in the city were carried away except Taiko Bridge and Choroku Bridge. Kokaibashi was carried away with 40 inhabitants.
The disposal of 60 billion tons of muddy soil presented big problems; 116 areas including a moat of the Kumamoto Castle were used. The Kumamoto city gave subsidies to clean up the streets; ¥2,000 for bicycle trailers, ¥4,500 for 3-wheel cars and ¥10,750 for a truck; producing many small enterprises with trucks.
A house for the aged was destroyed and 52 people were killed.
The damage amounted to ¥17.3 billion
Even in the southern part of Aso gun, the dead and missing amounted to 66.
Flood in Fukuoka Prefecture: Chikugogawa Area
The Chikugo River flows through Kumamoto, Oita, Fukuoka and Saga prefectures in Japan. With a total length of 143 kilometres, it is the longest river on Kyushu. It flows from Mount Aso and empties into the Ariake Sea. The river is important to industry, with twenty electrical power plants located along its banks, as well as the major city of Kurume in Fukuoka Prefecture.
147 people were killed in the areas of Chikugo River; all areas of Tsukushi plain were flooded, and the Yoake dam which was under construction, the bank of Kasegawa, and the bank of Yabegawa, the area of Homan Gawa were also flooded. 80 percent of Kurume city was flooded; in the center of the city, water was 1 meter deep, 3 meters deep at the deepest. This flood is called one of the three worst floods, including that of 1890 and that of 1921.
The total damage amounted to ¥79.3 billion, which was equivalent to twice the yearly budget of Fukuoka Prefecture.
Damage
The Japanese Government took appropriate measures comparable with those took for typhoons in 1948. The 5th Yoshida Cabinet placed "Nishinihon flood countermeasure center" in Fukuoka City. Not only National Safety Forces, but also American soldiers helped. The people in the flooded areas greatly appreciated the supply of free food and water, while they thought the flood was a natural disaster and could not be helped.
The damage published by the National Regional Police Fukuoka Center
Countermeasures
1953 was the year of great disasters; the heavy rain in the south Kishu area, Wakayama Prefecture, with 1,046 people dead and missing and in the Minami Yamashiro area. The causes were attributed to reckless deforestation, and the lack of water control after the second world war. The damaged Yoake Dam was investigated but the inadequate water control of the upper river was found to blame. The Japanese Government decided to follow America and its Tenessey Valley Corporation and started to build many dams such as, Matsubara Dam, Shimauch Tsutsumi, Shimouke Dam, Ōishi, Harazuru, Sennenbunsuiro, Chikugoooseki, Terauchi Dam, Ishiharagawa Dam, Ōishi Dam, Jouharagawa Dam, Hyugakami Dam, Masubuchi Dam, Aburagi Dam, and Jin-ya Dam. In 2009, the countermeasures were again under review in view of the global warming and heat island phenomenon and the outbreaks of heavy rainfall in Northern Kyushu in 2009.
