Torrential rains in mid-September triggered by the double effect of an autumnal rain front and an approaching typhoon, wreaked havoc on the Tokai central Japan region.

The worst downpours to hit the region in at least a century caused several deaths and disrupted road and rail traffic. In the three prefectures of Aichi, Mie, and Gifu, as many as 56,000 houses were flooded above floor level, and at one point about 400,000 people were ordered or advised to evacuate their homes as rivers flowed over the dikes and flooded the streets of many residential areas.

A few days later, elementary schoolchildren from relatively unscathed areas came to the aid of affected people, joining adult volunteers and local residents in cleaning up the afflicted areas, where piles of soaked, mud-covered electric appliances, furniture, and other bulky household items littered the streets.

Sixth-grader Shugo Mizutani of Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture, came to Nishibiwajima Town, one of the areas that took the heaviest brunt of the flooding, with about a dozen Boy Scouts friends. "I wanted to come to see if I could be of any help," he said.

The town office sent Shugo and his friends to help a plumber's family, whose two-story house was inundated up to an adult's waist height on the first floor. They spent three hours bringing out mud-covered furniture and removing floorboards to rake out mud underneath, getting themselves all muddy, too.

The kids earned the heartfelt thanks of the plumber, Mr. Ken Kimura, who said, "I don't know just how many days it would have taken me to clean up the mess without the helping hands of Shugo and his friends." Shugo said he would like to come back to the town again because "I think many more people need the help of volunteers.".

At another house in the town, Yumi Miyazaki, a fifth grader from Konan City, washed the floor soaked in muddy water with her fourth-grade brother, Tomohito, her junior-high sister, and her mother. "I am glad if I can make other people happy. I just hope affected houses will return to normal as early as possible," Tomohito said.

Junpei Akimoto, a sixth grader in Nishibiwajima, said he found the flood devastating but now feels he should "make sure the volunteers don't work too hard" in overcoming the damage.

Photos: (top) A pile of household goods ruined by floodwater. (Asahi Shogakusei Shimbun); (above) Children dump mud that collected in the floods into a truck. (Asahi Chugakusei Weekly)