In the year after the Hōei eruption, another related disaster happened. The Sakawa River flooded. Sand from the volcano fell and widely covered the fields east of Mount Fuji. Farmers made sand piles by dumping the ash and sand from their fields. The rain washed away the sand piles from the dumping grounds and into the rivers again and again. This made some of the rivers shallower, especially the Sakawa. Enough ash had fallen to partly block the river. The ash made temporary dams. Heavy rainfall on August 7 and 8, 1708, caused an avalanche of volcanic ash and mud and broke the dams. The river flooded the Ashigara plain.