及ぶ: damage across three villages and a five-hour meeting
Read the three-village extent of heavy-rain damage and the five-hour duration of a meeting, keeping spatial and temporal units distinct.
Affected places and elapsed activity time
及ぶ (およぶ) means to extend or reach. The rain example concerns places reached by damage, while the meeting example concerns how long an activity lasted.
三つの村 and 五時間 express different scopes. Three villages counts the affected places; five hours measures the meeting's duration. Keep each unit with its own subject.
Two extents stated with place and time units
「大雨の被害は三つの村に及びました。」 (Damage from the heavy rain extended to three villages.) The heavy-rain damage actually extended to three villages. This identifies the spatial extent; it does not say that every facility in those villages was destroyed.
「会議は五時間に及びました。」 (The meeting lasted five hours.) The meeting lasted five hours. 五時間に及びました gives its duration, without stating a conclusion or an agreed outcome.
Read the number together with its subject
The damage sentence has 大雨の被害 as its subject, and the duration sentence has 会議. Identifying what 及ぶ describes separates the spatial reach across three villages from the five-hour time span.
The area reached by damage is distinct from its precise severity. Likewise, the length of a meeting does not supply the content of its conclusion. Explain the extent actually measured by each stated unit.
What do the three villages and five hours measure in the 及ぶ examples?
Show the answer and why
The three villages give the spatial extent of the heavy-rain damage. The five hours give the duration of the meeting. Each measure belongs to its own subject.