Thanks to the flooding of the Chikuma River in Nagano and Nao Kodaira, who is full of mud as a volunteer.

Nao Kodaira (Reuters) who participated in the speed skating women's 1000 meters

Nao Kodaira (35) = Aizawa Hospital =, a speed skating girl, has lived her competitive life by snuggling up to her hometown of Nagano. In October 2019, the Chikuma River overflowed due to the heavy rain caused by Typhoon No. 19. The Nagano City and Akanuma districts were also severely damaged. In March 2008, Kodaira participated in volunteer activities in the Akanuma area and carried out waste removal work. At that time, I visited the home of Mr. Katsuyoshi Yamaguchi (66). After that, Mr. Yamaguchi, who started her new life, expressed his gratitude to Kodaira. (Composition: Naofumi Hayashi) Mr. Kodaira first appeared on March 21, 2020. Eight volunteers came to help me, and I didn't notice at first, but before the work, I found out that one of them was Mr. Kodaira. He was surprised and said, "Are you okay? Don't get hurt," but I think he was working for about five hours while listening to the stories of other volunteers. At the time of Typhoon No. 19, an evacuation advisory was issued, so I thought about the possibility of going to an evacuation center and took the whole family in the bath in the evening. I changed to an evacuation order around 1 am and went to the evacuation center with my family. When I saw the live video of the embankment, the water was rushing in. I was praying not to just break it, but the video was cut off and disappeared. I heard voices here and there saying, "It looks like it's broken." I was prepared for the inundation of about 30 cm or 50 cm below the floor. However, in reality, it came to a height of about 2 meters from the ground. When I returned home, I found the TV, air conditioner, refrigerator, and computer on the first floor. All were soaked in water and annihilated. At first I thought about remodeling, but it's an old house that is nearly 150 years old. I heard that Nagano City would subsidize the dismantling cost and switched to a new construction, but in order to apply for it, I had to take everything out of my house and storeroom. Mud was everywhere in the house. It was a large house, so I cleaned up the mud day after day. I also threw away all tatami mats and shoji screens. Every day I didn't like it lasted for about 5 months. The day when the nearby disaster garbage storage area was closed was approaching the next day. I can't start dismantling yet. Volunteers came when I was holding my head. Eight people loaded garbage into light trucks for transportation one after another and transported them by piston, and the work that I thought would not be finished on that day was almost done. Mr. Kodaira was also doing hard work really seriously. The volunteers I was with were also worried, "Don't overdo it so that you don't get injured." Thanks to everyone, I was able to apply for dismantling safely, and I was able to think, "Let's do our best for restoration and reconstruction." I was really happy just to come to volunteer, but six days before that, my eldest son and his wife, who had a child, wrote an autograph. The whole family is a big fan of Mr. Kodaira. I always cheer for you. The new house was completed in December of last year. I had been watching from the outside until it was completed, but I was impressed the day I first entered. Compared to the time of the disaster, my life has returned to an unimaginable level. Even now, the sadness and regret of that time is still in my heart. I have various thoughts. But I'm finally here. Mr. Kodaira would be happy if he could realize that he is "going this far" if he can pass nearby for bicycle training after the Olympics. (Talk)

Hochi Shimbun