personnel managed to rescue residents who had made it up to the second floor but were unable to reach those left below. According to the staff at the home, they roused residents at 5 a.m. and shuffled them upstairs. On the first floor, when water came into the building, they placed residents with wheelchairs on top of tables in the dining room. The staff was unable to rescue the deceased residents after water broke through the windows and the patients floated off the tables. Following overnight rains, authorities instructed more than 75,000 residents to evacuate in the prefectures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima. 203,200 residents were instructed to shelter in place, and 109 shelters were opened in the region. The Kuma River overran its bank in eleven different locations and breached one levee. In Kuma, Kumamoto, stranded residents were rescued by a rescue helicopter. Eight homes were swept away in Ashikita, Kumamoto. In Tsunagi, Kumamoto, 2–3 people were pulled out of a landslide without signs of life. Some 8,000 homes were left without power in Kumamoto and Kagoshima according to the Kyushu Electric Power Company. Another 6,100 houses were estimated to be submerged, 11 bridges destroyed and 4,700 buildings destroyed, damaged or flooded. A dike was breached near the town of Hitoyoshi, normally known for its hot springs and boating, which was flooded by the Kuma River. Volunteers from the local rafting association in Hitoyoshi used their rafts to rescue stranded residents in the flooded town. At least 17 people in Hitoyoshi died. On the morning of 7 July, the Chikugo River overflowed in Hita, Ōita leading authorities to issue the highest level alert to residents. Effects The flooding has also disrupted economic activity in Kyushu, an important manufacturing area in Japan. Companies including Toyota, Canon, and Panasonic temporarily halted production in the area as a precaution for employee safety. However, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, in a statement on 6 July, said he did not expect major supply chain disruptions. Evacuees and local officials raised concerns regarding emergency shelter given the simultaneously ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Evacuees arriving at shelters had their temperatures checked, or were asked to go elsewhere so that social distancing could be maintained. Some evacuees chose to take refuge in their cars, while others stayed with friends. These measures follow recommendations created the previous month in June when government officials anticipated a possible "double disaster" of flooding