flood waters from the qin ga wa river have spread over areas near tokyo. a levee was breached catching residents off guard. many are turning to social media to appeal for help. the man on the lower part of our screen clung to a pole for over

an hour until rescuers arrived. the flooding is an aftereffect of tropical storm etau. the meteorological agency has issued its highest warnings. thanks for joining us on "newsline." i'm james tengan in tokyo. we're keeping a close eye on the flooding in japan. a dangerous situation is going on in ibuaki prefecture. flood water is inundating several communities. you can see the levee breaking next to the fallen tree. officials say this happened just after noon. local authorities say they believe the waters have carried off houses and cars. some with people inside. they say they're having difficulty reaching inundated areas because of a strong current in the water. flood waters continue to flow into residential areas including joso and other neighboring

cities. hundreds are stranded. about a hundred people sought shelter on the second floor of a supermarket. employees say the waters rose to two meters inside the store and are still rising. many residents remain in their houses. others who have escaped to evacuation centers say they feel trapped. staff at the land infrastructure and transportation ministry say the water covers as much as 37 square kilometers in this area. they say the break many the levee was initially 20 meters long then grew to 80 meters. they say 7,000 homes and buildings are destroyed in joso alone. it's about 60 kilometers north of tokyo. a tropical storm ripped through the main island of japan. rising flood waters also inundated homes in tochigi prefecture.

part of a hot springs resort hotel collapsed. generators at two plants have become inoperable. one woman went missing in the prefecture. the weather has changed to a low pressure system. leaving a belt of rain clouds. some parts of toe chi ghee prefecture have had more than 500 millimeters of rain. that's double the amount of rain they receive for the entire month of september. weather officials warned of major floods and landslides. >> translator: this is a seriously dangerous situation. we consider it an emergency. >> translator: the government will make all-out efforts to protect the people and will take all necessary disaster management measures.

>> local authorities have ordered at least 130,000 people to evacuate. despite nightfall, officials are doing their best to reach as many people as possible hoping the weather will no longer be a factor. joining us now is sayaka mori with details. what are rescuers facing at this time? >> yes, james. heavy rn is over. that's good news. but waters don't go away any time soon. we have emergency warnings in tochigi and ibaraki prefecture. all rain came downstream. the rain started yesterday, so the total amount is over 600 millimeters of rain. so again the water flowed downstream and because of that, inundation occurred in ooeb ra

key prefecture as we just saw. it's sending strong westerly winds to japan. meanwhile, there is a severe thunderstorm across the pacific. this is sending strong moist winds. it caused rainfall over the kanto region and the heavy rain lasted for about 12 hours or even more. so that causes serious inundation across the kanto gion. good news, heavy rain is over across the kanto region. but hokkaido will see heavy rainfall for the next couple of days. flooding is going to be a very high risk. all right. back to you, james. >> thanks very much, sayaka. she'll be joining us again with more on weather. china's premier says he will take necessary measures to avoid an economic plunge and ensure

growth. li keqiang was speaking to business leaders at a meeting of the world economic forum in dalian. takafumi terui has more. >> reporter: the world's second largest economy is feeling downward pressure. but li has business leaders from all over the wor that the economy is stable and moving in a positive direction. >> translator: china is not a risk for the world economy. it's a source of growth. >> reporter: li said china's growth may have slowed, but the country has a solid base with a sufficient level of employment and a double digit increase in household income. he said ups and downs are inevitable as the country goes through structural reform.

>> translator: we'll be able to handle the situation if the chinese economy dips beyond a reasonable range. we won't allow a hard landing. >> takafumi, people are concerned about stock market volatility and the recent evaluation of the yuan has caused worries across asian economies. what does premier li intend to do about it. >> reporter: li says he won't allow financial turmoil to originate from china. he also says he doesn't want to see a currency war as it would be harmful to the country. >> translator: we'll perfect our controls to prevent systemic risks. china has some financial leeway as people's savings rate is high and we have adequate foreign currency concerns. we will ensure it's more market

based and stabilize the currency at a reasonable and balanced level. >> reporter: some participants say they're satisfied with li's speech. others particularly those from emerging economies say beijing needs to act as china's downturn is seriously affecting them. >> it will have a bad impact. and china is struggling with that. and the premier admitted it, quite frankly. and good thing is that they're planning -- they're taking measures for that. >> he address most of the important topics of the current situation and some ofhe challenges. >> reporter: some recent data suggests china's downturn may be worse than predicted. li needs to follow through in

implementing his polics so that his promises to the world today will not simply be, to quote his own words, blind optimism. >> that was our takafumi terui reporting from dalian, china. government officials in japan are getting ready to launch another stage in their postal system. gene otani has the details on that as well as a wrapup of today's business headlines. gene? >> james, thanks. people at the tokyo stock exchange have given the go-ahead for one of the biggest listings in japan's history. they've approved a bid by japan post holdings to go public in november. sources we talked to to estimate the total market capitalization of the company will be about 1.6 trillion yen or $104 billion. that means the offering will be

the biggest since mtt went public 28 years ago at 18.7 trillion yen. the government owns post outright. jp holdings owns all of its units. it plans to sell 11% of the shares in both. officials at all three organizations will talk to investors worldwide before finalizing the terms. officials from japan's cabinet office say in july companies spent less money on new equipment. it's the second month in a row that machinery orders have fallen. before that the officials have said orders were recovering. but after seeing the latest numbers, they've changed their tune. now they say the pickup is stalling. the officials say machinery orders in july was down 3.6% from the month before. orders from the manufacturing sector fell by more than 5%. and orders from the

non-manufacturing sector also fell by 6%. policy makers of the bank of japan also have some troubling economic data. they've been working hard to end deflation, but they say new figures for august show prices of goods traded among companies are down. the producer price index fell 4%, the biggest fall since december 2009. analysts credit cheaper petroleum and coal products. policy makers in china are struggling with the same problem only on a bigger scale. in august the producer price index there fell by the largest amount in nearly six years. analysts from the national bureau of statistics say the index plunged by almost 6% from the same month last year. observers say it's another sign of weakening domestic demand. the analysts credit persistent weakness in the property market. they say that's caused prices for steel and copper wire to

tumble. they also point to a sharp decline in trading for auto products. they forked out more for food and other goods and services as the consumer price index climbed by 2%. it's the first time in a year the index has increased by that amount. cpi remains below the government's target of about 3%. a slide in prices of mobile phones and construction materials is holding the index back. the lackluster figures from china and japan put investors in tokyo on edge. how did the markets react to the data? >> machinery orders are key indicator of capital spending so the down data was a signal to investors that japan's economy has not found its footing. china did little to lighten the mood. let's check thursday's closing levels here in tokyo.

the nikkei closed at 18,299. down 2.5% erasing some of wednesday's gains of nearly 8%. the broader topix fell more than 1.8%. retailing jumped wednesday, but investors offloaded shares to take profits. energy-related stocks were also in retreat with declining oil prices weighing on inpex and jx holdings. both falling more than 4%. so woes over regional and global economies cloed market sentiment and analysts say investors want to see some sign of relief. either support or stimulus from government especially in china. and of course the u.s. federal reserve has yet to play its card on an interest rate hike. giang nguyen from the tokyo

stock exchange. moving on to others in the region. the shanghai composite closed down 1.39%. a drop in oil prices weighed on market sentiment. investors in australia shrugged off better than expected jobs data. their index fell 2.4%. some are worried about a slowdown i china. hong kong's hang seng fell 2.6%. seoul is one of few bright spots with the kospi adding 1.4%, a three-week high. here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. trade officials from japan and the u.s. have resumed talks on automobile tariffs as part of negotiations for the transpacific partnership free trade pact. they've been at odds over the so-called rule of origin. the rule says imports should only be tariff free if a certain

amount of the parts come from within tpp countries. chinese officials say they changed the way they calculate their quarterly gross domestic product. they say the new method accurately maps changes in sectors with seasonal fluctuation such as agriculture. they say the new system is closer to international standards. the man set to lead infrastructure investment bank says more than 70 countries is likely to take part. he said many applicants are waiting to join the 57 founding members of the chinese-led bank. if it gets more than 67 members, the aiib will have a wider reputation. japanese scientists have been hard at work developing a little known water treatment technology that could produce big benefits. they say tiny globules of air

known as fine bubbles have applications from cleaning to farming and fishing. nhk world's yoous kin noe goe chi has the story. >> reporter: kochi prefecture produces more than any the country. farmers at this greenhouse are using a special kind of water to improve their harvest. >> translator: you can see the root is big and really firm. >> reporter: the water has find bubbles less than one millimeter. these are bubbles usually seen in breeding goldfish. and these are fine bubbles. they've been in water for months. that means the water holds more

oxygen and other gases than usual. the water here used to contain about 30% oxygen. now it's 90%. >> translator: it's great that we started doing this. it's working wonders. >> reporter: associate professor hakata is based at institute of technology colge. he was one of the first to expand research from industrial applications to agriculture and other fields. he developed a partible device that can generate fine bubbles anywhere. people are seeing the benefits of this evolving technology in the fishing industry too.

a fish farmer spent years grappling with a problem. he has to put chemicals in his reserve to prevent the fish from getting parasites. to do that efficiently, he has to gather tens of thousands of fish in a small area. that takes up oxygen from the water and causes many fish to die. >> translator: in the worst cases, many as 2,000 fish died. it was a huge blow. >> reporter: he turned to fine bubbles. he set up the generator developed by associate professor hata. the oxygen content in thehe wat doubled and the number of fish that died fell to almost zero.

>> translator: the technology works with both water and air. they're the things that people rely on in agriculture and fisheries. they're all you need to make this device effective. i think we can expect this will be a revolutionary approach. >> reporter: these tiny bubbles hold enormous potential for people working in all kinds of fields. so people are aiming to use them to create new industry. yusuke noguchi, nhk world, kochi. and that'st for business news. i'll leave you with the markets.

a nuclear reactor in southwestern japan h resumed commercial operations. it's the first in the country to generate electricity for sale in two years. the operator kyushu electric power company restarted the sendai plant's reactor about a month ago. it was the first restarted after the fukushima daiichi accident four years ago. inspectors from the nuclear regulation authority conducted final checks of the reactor and other equipment. they reported no abnormalities, so the regulator gave them approval to proceed. about 40 people who are enraged that the plant was restarted gathered outside the front gate. they carried banners that read no more nuclear power and stop operation immediaty. one demonstrator referred to the nuclear accident that happened in fukushima.

>> translator: i'm upset mainly because fukushima hasn't recovered. hardly any of the people affected can go back to their own lives. >> she said she'll keep campaigning to get kyushu electric to stop nuclear power generation. japan's ruling coalition is hoping to enact a key package of national security bills by the end of next week. it has drafted a supplementary resolu to the legislation as a way to win over the opposition. the bills would allow japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense. the liberal democratic party and komeito plan to have legislation adopted by an upper house committee next week. the ruling camp is expected to reject the demands to amend the bills. the draft resolution says the government wl seek prior diet approval when sending the self-defense forces abroad. except in very limited cases where waiting would put japanese people's lives at risk or

severely compromise national interests. the draft also promises maximum possible transparency for sdf activities abroad. such as through regular updates to the diet during missions. it says the sdf will not transport weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear, biological, or cluster bombs and depleted uranium weapons. the surgeons generals say a forced vote is unacceptable. the democratic party will ask fellow opposition parties at a meeting on friday for their cooperation in submitting a no confidence most against the cabinet of prime minister shinzo abe. we mentioned at the top of the broadcast about the flooding situation in japan, but flooding is also plaguing parts of the u.s. meteorologist sayaka mori is back with details on that. sayaka? >> yes, southern california is also dealing with severe flooding. there is a tropical storm named linda over the sea and this is

feeding ample moisture from the south. the flash floods are taking place. we have some video coming out of california. take a look. severe weather has taken the life of at least one person in southern calornia this week. heavy rain and hail has been running in san bernardino tuesday and wednesday. this is leading to flooding in local rivers. one man was swept away in the ters. a flash flood watch remains in efct through thursday. more weather is expected. this area has been dealing with lack of precipitation, so rain is very needed. but too much rain is not good news. there's another big story for this area. temperatures are extremely high. it's more like mid-summer. los angeles, the high could hit 36 on thursday. and sacramento, you'll see 40 degrees going into the next couple of days. now, across europe, severe flooding happened across the southeastern portions of spain this week.

it caused dangerous flooding on wednesday and the system located over the south of the balkan peninsu peninsula. it's packing a lot of energy. excessive amounts of precipitation and the possibility of tornadoes and large hail into the morning. now, you can see gloomy weather will continue into the next couple of days and temperatures are going to be as follows. istanbul, your high 30 degrees on friday. it's going to be quite muggy. now, across asia as we have been reporting, historic flooding has been happening over the kanto region. a system over the sea of japan is sending ample moisture. and there's a tropical storm east of japan sending ample moisture from the ocean. the worst condition is over in the kanto region. but northern japan will see quite wet weather the next couple of days. mostly dry across the eastern

half of china, but there's a situation over eastern china that's going to bring more heavy rainfall across inland china. and heavy showers for the indochina peninsula as well as the philippines. manila will have a high of 30 degrees. hong kong 31 degrees for the high with partly sunny skies. shanghai at 30 degrees and tokyo 29 degrees. warmer than average conditions on friday. here's the extended forecast.

our top story once again. flood waters are inundating some communities in ibaraki prefecture causing major damage. and police say they've received reports that homes and cars were washed away with people inside. a levee broke on the kinugawa river catching residents off guard. helicopters have been dispatched to rescue hundreds of people stranded. some people have been air lifted from balconies and rooftops and many are turning to social media to appeal for help. the man on the lower part of your screen clung to a pole for over an hour before rescuers arrived. the situation remains very dangerous. the flooding is an aftereffect of tropical storm etau. the meteorological agency has issued its highest level

warnings for ibaraki and tochigi prefektureses. "newsroom tokyo" will have updates on that story and more right here on nhk world at the top of the hour. i'm james tengan. a a a

>> you are watching france 24. it is 1:00 p.m. in paris. at least 100,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in japan as the country is hit by torrential rain and floods. eyewitnesses say it brings back terrible memories from the tsunami four years ago. preparations underway for the international conference on climate change. francois