Schools in Ishikawa Prefecture reopen after heavy rain

Ten elementary and junior high schools in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, reopened Thursday after a closure due to record-breaking heavy rain last weekend.
However, two schools in the city remain closed after being flooded above their floor level. The heavy rain lashed the northern part of the Noto Peninsula, including Wajima, which had been hit hard by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake on Jan. 1.
On Thursday, cheerful voices of children were heard around a temporary school building that had been put up in the Wajima town of Kawai for children of six elementary schools damaged by the temblor.
“I was excited to be back at school for the first time in a while. Physical education was the most enjoyable,” said Tasuku Kakiuchi, a 7-year-old second-grader.
“I was scared because the river water rose near my house,” he said of the rain at the weekend.
Police and fire authorities continue to search for missing people in the city.
As of 4 p.m. Thursday, about 4,660 households in Ishikawa, mainly in Wajima, were still experiencing water outages and about 1,300 households were without power, according to the prefectural government.
The number of people isolated due to road disruptions fell to 42 in four locations in three districts. A total of 437 people were at 26 evacuation centers in Wajima, the city of Suzu and the town of Noto, all in the northern part of the peninsula.