NEARLY 27 INCHES OF RAIN SLAMS JAPAN — HIGHEST-LEVEL EMERGENCY WARNING ISSUED
Japan is facing a major flooding and landslide emergency after an extraordinary amount of rain hammered parts of the country, leaving hillsides saturated, roads overwhelmed and communities facing dangerous conditions.
The situation has become especially serious in eastern Japan, where Typhoon Dujuan has brought torrential rainfall and widespread disruption.
On Izu Oshima, more than 26 inches of rain fell in just 24 hours.
That is an extraordinary amount of precipitation to receive in such a short period.
And the danger does not end when the rain stops.
When that much water falls onto already saturated ground, hillsides can become unstable, rivers and drainage systems can rise rapidly, and slopes can begin to collapse with little warning.
Authorities have responded by issuing the highest Level 5 emergency warning, signaling an extremely dangerous situation in affected areas and urging people in vulnerable locations to take immediate action.
🌧️ MORE THAN 26 INCHES IN A SINGLE DAY
The rainfall totals emerging from Izu Oshima are among the most alarming parts of this developing disaster.
More than 26 inches of rain in 24 hours means enormous amounts of water have been poured onto the landscape in a remarkably short period.
The ground can absorb only so much.
Once the soil becomes saturated, additional rainfall increasingly turns into surface runoff.
Water begins rushing downhill.
Streams and drainage channels can swell.
Roads can become flooded.
Low-lying neighborhoods can quickly find themselves surrounded by water.
And on steep terrain, the pressure created by saturated soil can weaken slopes until they eventually give way.
That is exactly why landslides have become one of the most serious threats ᴀssociated with this storm.
⛰️ LANDSLIDES ALREADY REPORTED
The extreme rainfall has already contributed to landslides, raising fears that additional slope failures could occur as more water moves through the ground.
Landslides can happen suddenly.
A hillside that appears stable can collapse after prolonged rainfall, sending mud, rocks, trees and debris downhill.
For people living near steep slopes, valleys or roads cut into mountainsides, the danger can be particularly difficult to ᴀssess.
The ground may show warning signs, such as cracks, unusual movement, falling rocks or changes in water flow.
But sometimes there is very little visible warning before a slope collapses.
That is why authorities are urging people in vulnerable locations to take evacuation guidance seriously rather than waiting until flooding or landslides reach their homes.
🏠 HOMES DAMAGED AS CONDITIONS DETERIORATE
Homes have already been damaged in the affected region as the storm continues to create dangerous conditions.
For families caught in the path of extreme rainfall, the threat can come from multiple directions at once.
Floodwater can enter buildings from streets and drainage systems.
Mud and debris can move downhill from unstable slopes.
Roads can become inaccessible.
Power can fail.
And emergency crews may have difficulty reaching isolated communities if transportation routes are blocked.
The combination of flooding, landslides and infrastructure disruption can make a severe weather emergency significantly more complicated.
It is not simply a matter of waiting for the rain to stop.
Communities must also contend with what the rainfall has done to the landscape.
⚡ WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES REPORTED
The storm has also caused widespread power outages across the region.
Heavy rainfall and landslides can place enormous stress on infrastructure.
Flooded areas may become inaccessible to repair crews, while fallen debris and damaged infrastructure can create additional obstacles.
For residents without electricity, the situation can become particularly difficult during an emergency.
Communications may be affected.
Homes can lose lighting.
Transportation information may become harder to access.
And people sheltering from the storm may have to rely on mobile devices and emergency broadcasts for updates.
For those in evacuation areas, keeping phones charged and staying connected with official information can be critical.
🚨 1.9 MILLION PEOPLE FACING EVACUATION GUIDANCE
The scale of the emergency becomes even clearer when looking at the number of people affected.
Across several prefectures, approximately 1.9 million people are under evacuation instructions or advisories.
That does not mean every one of those people is necessarily in immediate danger, but it demonstrates how broadly authorities are responding to the threat.
With rivers rising, hillsides saturated and additional rain possible, officials are taking precautions across vulnerable communities.
For residents who have received evacuation instructions, waiting until floodwater reaches their neighborhood can be extremely dangerous.
Evacuation is safest when roads and routes remain pᴀssable.
Once flooding becomes severe or landslides block roads, moving people becomes much more difficult.
🌊 THE THREAT CONTINUES AFTER THE RAIN
One of the most dangerous misconceptions during a flooding disaster is that the worst moment occurs while the rain is falling.
In reality, flooding and landslides can continue developing even after rainfall begins to weaken.
Water needs time to move through the landscape.
Rain falling at higher elevations can travel downstream and cause rivers and streams to rise later.
Meanwhile, saturated hillsides can remain unstable long after the heaviest rain has pᴀssed.
That means residents cannot ᴀssume conditions are safe simply because the skies begin to clear.
The landscape itself may still be responding to the enormous amount of water it has absorbed.
🇯🇵 JAPAN FACES A DANGEROUS WEATHER EMERGENCY
Japan is no stranger to powerful typhoons and extreme rainfall, but the combination of extraordinary precipitation, flooding, landslides and widespread infrastructure disruption presents a serious challenge for affected communities.
More than 26 inches of rain in 24 hours has fallen on Izu Oshima.
Landslides have already been reported.
Homes have been damaged.
Power outages are affecting communities.
And roughly 1.9 million people across several prefectures are under evacuation instructions or advisories.
With the highest Level 5 emergency warning issued, authorities are treating the situation with the urgency that such extreme conditions demand.
For residents, the priority is simple: remain aware, follow local emergency instructions and avoid entering flooded areas or traveling through roads affected by water or landslides.
Do not underestimate moving water.
Do not approach unstable slopes.
And do not ᴀssume a familiar road is safe simply because it was pᴀssable earlier in the day.
⚠️ THE GROUND MAY NOT BE DONE MOVING
More than 26 inches of rain has already fallen.
The hillsides are saturated.
Landslides are occurring.
Floodwater is spreading.
And communities across eastern Japan are facing the consequences of one of the most intense rainfall events of the season.
The danger now extends beyond the storm itself.
It is the water trapped in the ground.
The rivers still rising.
The slopes struggling to hold together.
The roads becoming increasingly difficult to navigate.
And the possibility that another burst of heavy rain could push already vulnerable areas beyond their limits.
Japan is facing a rapidly evolving emergency — and for many communities, the most dangerous conditions may not be over yet.
👇 Anyone in Japan seeing the flooding or landslides?
💔 STELLA PARTON BREAKS HER SILENCE — What She Said About Dolly’s Health Has Fans Looking Back
Dolly Parton’s Sister Breaks Silence What Really Happened - GMT - G1
Stella Parton was born May 4, 1949, the sixth of twelve children raised by Robert Lee and Avie Lee Parton in Sevierville, Tennessee — a household defined by noise, limited money, and almost no privacy, the kind of environment that produced strong, determined personalities.
Stella was one of them.
By seven, she was appearing alongside her older sister Dolly on a Knoxville television program; by her teens, she was writing her own songs, though marriage and motherhood pulled music to the margins of her life for a stretch.
The dream never fully disappeared.
In 1967, she recorded a gospel album with her mother and sisters, and later worked clubs in Washington, D.C., before founding her own record label in 1975 and releasing “I Want to Hold You in My Dreams Tonight,” which climbed to number nine on the country charts.
Long before any of that commercial success, Stella had already shown a willingness to take positions others avoided.
At 26, amid backlash against Australian singer Olivia Newton-John for winning recognition in country music, Stella recorded “Ode to Olivia” in her defense — a stand that offered her no career benefit and real risk of criticism, but one she took anyway simply because she believed staying silent was the wrong choice.
That instinct defined the rest of her career: hits like “The Danger of a Stranger” and “Steady as the Rain” (written by Dolly) built a genuine, independent following, including in the U.K., while Stella also worked in New York theater and spoke openly, often controversially, about poverty, domestic violence, and the treatment of women in the music industry.
She was named the Christian Country Music Association’s Female Vocalist of the Year in 2004.
Through all of it, she remained defined publicly, more often than not, as simply “Dolly’s little sister” — a label she spent five decades quietly proving didn’t tell the full story.
That same directness is why her comments in the fall of 2025 carried real weight.
Stella had never positioned herself as the family’s image manager or spokesperson; she was, by reputation, someone who believed difficult truths shouldn’t stay hidden indefinitely.
What she described wasn’t dramatic or accusatory — it was a portrait of a woman who had spent years prioritizing everyone else’s needs over her own.
The context mattered.
Carl Dean, Dolly’s husband of nearly sixty years, died in March 2025 at 82, after a long illness during which Dolly had devoted herself almost entirely to his care.
She later acknowledged that in the process, she’d neglected her own health significantly.
The loss reverberated through the whole extended family — the Partons had lost three brothers in the years surrounding this period, compounding grief that, for a family that had once crowded twelve children into a single small home, meant losing pieces of a shared childhood one after another.
Stella herself went seven years without releasing new music during this stretch, later describing the period simply as one shaped by sorrow, while still speaking about the importance of finding moments of laughter within it.
Looking back, one moment reads very differently in hindsight than it did at the time: in late September 2025, Dolly postponed her planned Las Vegas residency, citing health challenges — a rare cancellation for a performer whose six-decade career had included very few of them.
At the time, most fans treated it as a minor, temporary setback.
Stella’s later reflections suggested the signs had actually been building for some time, visible to family in ways the public smile made easy to miss.
That concern crystallized publicly not long after, when Dolly’s younger sister Frieda posted a simple request on Facebook asking fans to pray for Dolly.
What looked at first like an ordinary, well-meaning gesture spread rapidly, sparking widespread speculation about how serious Dolly’s condition actually was.
Dolly herself responded directly within days, appearing in a video from a Grand Ole Opry commercial shoot, insisting with her familiar humor that she wasn’t finished yet — the now widely remembered “I ain’t dead yet” moment that briefly quieted public concern.
In the months that followed, the pattern repeated: reassuring updates about kidney stones, dehydration, and treatment, paired with continued work on new projects, right up until Dolly Parton’s death on August 25, 2026, at 80.
Looking back across that full timeline — the postponed residency, the family’s public worry, Stella’s own account of a sister who consistently deprioritized her own wellbeing — it becomes easier to see what the people closest to Dolly understood well before the rest of the world did: that the warmth and resilience the public saw every time she appeared on camera came at a real, largely invisible cost.
