A motorcycle rider wades through floodwaters caused by heavy downpours in the western Japan city of Wakayama on Nov. 11, 2009. Low pressure dumped heavy rain across a wide area of western Japan the same day, bringing the city a record hourly rainfall of 119.5 millimeters from 3 a.m. and causing a blackout affecting some 1,300 households in Wakayama Prefecture. (Kyodo)