burst its banks
気象庁の「十数年に一度の危機」ということばが現実のものになりました。うち茨城常総市での鬼怒川決壊はそれを象徴するものでした。先般もburstを誰かが取り上げていましたが，ここのburst its banksはどのような意味でしょうか。Kawadaくん，どうぞ。（Chris）
Japan hit by severe flooding and landslides
Widespread flooding and landslides in north-east Japan have forced more than 90,000 people to abandon their homes.
The city of Joso, north of the capital, Tokyo, was hit by a wall of water after the Kinugawa River burst its banks. Helicopter rescue teams have been plucking people from rooftops.
One person has been reported missing in the region and at least 12 are injured.
The rains come a day after Typhoon Etau brought winds of up to 125km/h (78mph) to central Aichi prefecture.
"This is a scale of downpour that we have not experienced before. Grave danger could be imminent," the chief forecaster at the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), Takuya Deshimaru, told an emergency press conference earlier on Thursday.
The hardest-hit areas have been Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures. Japan's Meteorological Agency had put both regions on its highest level of alert.
