One woman died while trying to move her car to a higher evacuation point
While all warnings were downgraded to advisories on Wednesday night, they remained in place for many areas, with the Japan Meteorological Agency assessing whether to lift them. At over 10 locations, tsunami waves as large as 70cm (27.5 inches) were observed on Thursday.
At least one evacuation-related death has been reported, according to the Asahi newspaper.
At around 10.10am on Wednesday, in Kumano, Mie prefecture, a 58-year-old woman driving a compact car veered off a national road and dropped around 20 metres (66 feet) down a cliff. She suffered severe head injuries and was pronounced dead.
Messages on her mobile phone showed she had been communicating with her family via social media, saying she was “going to move the car to a higher evacuation point”, according to the prefectural police.
