英語訳
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**Submerged Under 12 Feet of Water**
Due to the collapse of the Kiso River levees, the Nagashima Waju district in Kuwana County, Mie Prefecture, was submerged under approximately 12 feet (one jō two shaku, roughly 3.6 meters) of water. Only the tips of tall trees remained visible above the surface, presenting an utterly devastating scene. Furthermore, the Kiso River, even into the afternoon of the 22nd, had not subsided and still retained 90% of its floodwater volume.
**Representative Noguchi's Residence Swept Away**
The residence of Noguchi Daiji, a representative from Gifu Prefecture, was swept away in the current flood disaster.
**Rainfall in Gifu and Nagoya**
The general state of rainfall across various areas is as reported in a separate section. Regarding the rainfall in the Gifu and Nagoya areas since the 21st, it is said that over the course of nine hours, Gifu recorded 2 koku and 3 tō per tsubo, and Nagoya recorded 1 koku and 6 tō over the same unit area.
**Six Hundred Mulberry Trees Cut Down**
On August 2nd, the area experienced heavy thunderstorms from the morning, which caused some increase in water levels in the various rivers. However, as the rain stopped at night, disaster was narrowly averted. Nevertheless, in Kozugai, a hamlet of Kokufu Village in Yoshiki County, the people had already suffered enormous damage to their fields and other properties in the great flood of July, and were now at their wits' end. When yet another thunderstorm threatened to cause the rivers to flood again, the entire village erupted into a great commotion. The villagers gathered en masse on the levees at critical points, and felled six hundred large mulberry trees—which they valued more than rice or wheat—from nearby fields, and used them for flood prevention work. Their actions appeared quite frantic, but their feelings were truly deserving of sympathy.
**The Flood in Ōgaki**
On the morning of September 8th, the Ibi River flooded enormously, again breaking through the levees and inundating the city, reaching even the keep of Ōgaki Castle. Water levels in residences reached the rooftops and second floors, making this an unprecedented flood in the area's history. While tens of thousands of people were suffering on the brink of death, a local philanthropist named Kanamori Kichijirō consulted with the authorities and arranged for drainage channels to be cut (mio-kiri-wari). From the 12th onward, the water gradually receded and the people finally felt as though they had been given a new lease on life.
**The Destitute People of Gifu Prefecture**
Due to repeated flood disasters, an enormous number of people in the prefecture were struggling to eke out a living. The number of people currently receiving emergency relief rice distribution has reached 271,355. One can well imagine the extent of their misery.
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**Gifu Prefecture Struck by a Second Great Flood**
The prefecture, still suffering from the calamity of floods and storm damage, with residents unable yet to feel secure in their homes, was struck once again by an extraordinary flood. On September 6th, rain had been falling since morning, but around 5:30 in the afternoon, thunder repeatedly rolled across the sky and a great thunderstorm suddenly broke out (among several lightning strikes in the prefecture, in Unuma Village in Kamo County, one house burned down due to a lightning strike, killing two people). In particular, around 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning of the following day, the 7th, torrential rain poured down as if it would wash away cart axles, causing the three great rivers—the Kiso, Nagara, and Ibi—as well as all other rivers to rise by 13 to 15 shaku (approximately 3.9 to 4.5 meters). The levee breach points and drainage stoppage locations already damaged in the July floods once again broke apart in more than half the places, causing flooding in towns and villages across the region; in Gifu City alone, several hundred houses already had floodwaters exceeding two shaku (approximately 60 cm) above floorboard level. And yet the rain continued without stopping, and from that night through to the 8th there was yet more violent rain, causing all the rivers to steadily rise further—the Ibi River to one shō two gō (it is customary to call the level when water fills up to the levee "one shō"), the Kiso River to over two jō two shaku, and the Nagara River to over one jō five shaku—resulting in a massive flood. As a consequence, nearly all of the hundreds of drainage stops on the various rivers broke open again with the exception of three or four, and following the collapse of the great levees along the Ibi River at Ibi Town and Aoyagi Village, the destruction of other levees along the Nagara, Kiso, and other rivers was too numerous to enumerate. Accordingly, the flooded area expanded ever further; and since the violent rain did not stop even by the following day, the 9th, the water volumes in all the rivers reached one shō two gō to one shō three gō, resulting in an unprecedented flood. Beginning with the Ōgaki Waju, the levees of various waju districts were breached and the floods spread unchecked, with flood levels in many places reaching five shaku (approximately 1.5 meters) higher than in the July flood, inundating countless rooftops. As for the area of inundation, it could be said that, with the exception of Hida Province and Ena County, there was virtually not a single patch of land in the entire prefecture that was not flooded. With the prefectural population at over 900,000, the number already receiving emergency relief had reached the staggering figure of 271,300-plus, comprising nearly one third of the entire prefectural population—a fact alone sufficient to convey a glimpse of the terrible situation. The rain finally diminished somewhat around 3:25 a.m. on the 13th, but around that time a fierce northwestern wind began to blow violently, further increasing the rainfall amount,
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and as a result, even an urgent report arrived that in towns such as Takasu (with approximately 800-plus households), two-thirds of all residences were swept away and over 50 people drowned. So it may well be that in other places too, this fierce wind considerably worsened the degree of damage. In any case, since the traffic of every county, town, and village has been completely cut off since the onset of flooding, it is impossible to know the details of the loss of houses, human and animal deaths and injuries, and damage to fields, levees, roads, bridges, and the like, until the waters recede. It is said, however, that the damage will be considerably greater than in the previous flood and storm disasters.
**Ōgaki (Dispatched at 12:30, September 10th, by the Chief of Gifu Railway Maintenance Office)**
At 6 a.m., water in Ōgaki Station was one foot five inches above the rail level, with a slight increase still expected. Water had been breaking through at the Akasaka River and Ai River until last night, but this morning it has risen even further.
**Second Report (Dispatched at 3:15 p.m., September 10th, by the Chief of Nagoya Office)**
The waiting room at Ōgaki Station is flooded; water has reached the second floor throughout the city. Two hundred and fifty family members of station workers are being sheltered at the station, but relief rice is running out—arrangements are being made to send supplies from Gifu. There are four live cattle sheltering at the station that have been protected until today, but there is no longer any fodder and the situation is becoming difficult. Arrangements are currently being made to send feed.
**General Conditions of the Gifu Prefecture Flood**
The situation of the great flood in Gifu Prefecture has been reported in outline by telegram, but we now report the situation as of the morning of the 9th, based on the report of the Gifu Prefecture Police Department, as follows:
**Atsumi County**: On September 8th, a section approximately 300 ken long developed a sag in the levee along the Nagara River at Chaya Shinden Village, Gojikkoku district.
**Kamo County**: On September 7th, a levee breach along the Nagara River at Akemi Village caused flooding throughout the area, affecting over 100 houses.
- September 8th: The Daianji River flooded at Unuma Village, washing away bridges at three locations and destroying over 30 ken of levee.
- Same day: Water on the Sakai River near Ibishima Village reached 80% of levee capacity; levees at Koichiба and Ōmiya Villages each broke at one point; many other locations suffered sudden breaches.
**Fuwa County**: On September 8th at 10:02 a.m., levees along the Yamada River at Hyōsa Village broke at three points, causing flooding in parts of that village and Kurihara Village.
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- Same day at 2:20 p.m.: The Kuse River breached, flooding part of Akasaka. Additionally, runoff water from valleys inundated Aono, Enokido, and Yamichi villages to below-floorboard level.
**Anpachi County**: On September 8th, the levee breach at Fukusoku Village along the Ibi River was located at Hakamadare, spanning 85 ken, with five houses swept away and two flooded.
- Same day at 10:00 a.m.: A sudden breach of 30 ken occurred at Imafuku Village. Breaches along the Kuse River at Warita Village and Aoyagi Village would cause the entire Ōgaki Waju district to flood.
- Same day at 3:50 p.m.: Report from Ōgaki Police Station—currently flooded. Moribe Waju in danger. Chikisute Waju has been breached.
- September 9th at 1:00 a.m.: A 20-ken breach on the Sai River at Nishi-Yui Village in the Yui Waju district. Casualties unknown.
**Ōno County**: On September 9th at 11:00 a.m.: Three houses swept away at Kurono Village. Two people drowned at Kirei Village. Levee destruction at Yokoya Village.
**Ikeda County**: September 7th: Two levee breaches totaling over 10 ken along the Shinkawa (a tributary of the Kuse River) in Sanbora Village, with 17 houses flooded. A 20-ken break in the levee along the Kamagadani tributary in the same village. Two levee breaches totaling 10 ken along the Tokutani tributary in the same village.
- Levee breach of 5 ken along the Ōtani tributary at Ganjōji Village.
- Levee breach of 10 ken along the Furukawa tributary at Tabata Village.
- Two levee breaches totaling 30 ken on the main stream at Ichihashi Village.
**Motosu County**: On September 9th at 7:26 a.m.: A residence collapsed at Baba Village, injuring two people seriously.
**Toki County**: On September 8th at 10:57 p.m.: The Toki River rose to 9 gō 5 shaku. Still increasing.
**Mugi County**: On September 8th at 2:45 p.m.: At the post in front of Ueno police substation, the Tsubo River exceeded one shō, flooding 15 houses. In front of the Tominohо Village substation, the level reached over 9 gō, flooding 3 houses, with 3 temporary bridges and a temporary levee.
**○Gifu Prefecture (Dispatched at 2:30 a.m., September 11th, by the Gifu Prefectural Governor)**
Hakuri, Nakashima, Kaisai, Shimo-Ishizu, Tagi, and Anpachi Counties are approximately nine-tenths submerged like a lake. Moreover, Fuwa, Ōno, Ikeda, Motosu, Kata, Atsumi, Yamagata, and Kamo Counties are for the most part deeply flooded, and to the northeast… (continues on next page)