1. Is the whole center really underwater?
Yokkaichi's flood map paints the city center in heavy color, so at first glance it looks like everything goes under. But a colored area doesn't mean every spot floods to the same depth. Look up your exact address.
2. What happened in September 2025
On the night of September 12, Yokkaichi got 123.5 mm of rain in one hour, the most it had ever recorded at the time. Water poured into both basement levels of Kusunoki Parking, an underground car park downtown, and 274 cars were hit. No one was confirmed hurt. The water got in through 15 entrances and other openings. The same storm also flooded several neighborhoods, public buildings and parts of downtown. Upper floors: "We've got this." Ground floor: "Wait—" Basement: "Game over."
3. River floods and street flooding are two different maps
A river flood map mostly shows what happens when rivers overflow. A rainwater flooding map shows rain piling up in town when the drains can't keep up. A blank river map doesn't mean you're safe, so check both. Water around 2 meters deep can do serious damage to an ordinary ground floor.
4. Basement on normal days, street level on storm days
Parking underground is fine on normal days. When record-breaking rain is in the forecast, pick a safe spot above ground instead. Once water starts coming in, don't go back down to save your car. Same goes for Nagoya: a big-city look tells you nothing about elevation, nearby rivers or how well the drains work. Read the map as "my exact spot × which type of disaster."
