Survey report on damage caused by 2019 Typhoon Hagibis in Marumori Town, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan

Abstract Typhoon Hagibis struck Japan on October 12–13, 2019. There was substantial damage over a wide area including the Tohoku region. In particular, Marumori Town, an urban area in Miyagi Prefecture that includes a town hall, was flooded due to heavy rain. The maximum cumulative rainfall and hourly rainfall measured in the town were over 600 and 70 mm, respectively. Heavy rain caused river flooding and landslides throughout the town, resulting in 10 deaths and one missing person. There was also substantial damage to the infrastructure, such as roads, railways, and river levees. The authors performed a field survey immediately after the disaster, and analyzed the observed data. Most levee breaches occurred due to overflow. A breached levee that failed in an unusual direction, namely, a failure which took place from the landside toward the waterside, was also observed. Landslides were not only caused by the amount of rainfall, but also by geological and topographical factors. Roads and railways were damaged by both river flooding and landslides. While both river flooding and landslides occurred in the Usudaira community, which is in the middle reaches of the Gofukuya River, there were no deaths or missing persons. This should be an important case for future disaster mitigation.