Asakura, Japan : At least two people have been killed and 18 others are missing in huge floods that are surging through southern Japan, with authorities warning hundreds of thousands of people to flee.
Unprecedented torrential rain has caused rivers to burst their banks, sweeping away roads and houses, and destroying schools.
Thousands of soldiers and other rescuer workers were scrambling Thursday to reach people cut off by torrents of swirling water or threatened by landslides, as forecasters warned of worse to come.
More than 50 centimetres (20 inches) of rain deluged parts of Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, over 12 hours on Wednesday, the meteorological agency said.
Authorities lifted "special" heavy rain warnings for the hardest hit prefectures of Fukuoka and Oita, although lesser warnings remained in place.
"There is a lot of information about people who are unaccounted for," he told a press conference, declining to confirm the number of people missing.
A man was found dead in the city of Asakura in Fukuoka prefecture, public broadcaster NHK and Jiji Press reported, citing police sources.
Local officials said in total they knew of 18 people who were missing in Fukuoka and Oita.
Television footage showed rolling waves from swollen rivers hitting residential areas, tearing up roads and inundating farmland.
Asakura was among the hardest hit with footage showing floodwaters surging through the streets.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Unprecedented torrential rain has caused rivers to burst their banks, sweeping away roads and houses, and destroying schools.
Thousands of soldiers and other rescuer workers were scrambling Thursday to reach people cut off by torrents of swirling water or threatened by landslides, as forecasters warned of worse to come.
More than 50 centimetres (20 inches) of rain deluged parts of Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, over 12 hours on Wednesday, the meteorological agency said.
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Authorities lifted "special" heavy rain warnings for the hardest hit prefectures of Fukuoka and Oita, although lesser warnings remained in place.
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"There is a lot of information about people who are unaccounted for," he told a press conference, declining to confirm the number of people missing.
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A man was found dead in the city of Asakura in Fukuoka prefecture, public broadcaster NHK and Jiji Press reported, citing police sources.
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Local officials said in total they knew of 18 people who were missing in Fukuoka and Oita.
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Television footage showed rolling waves from swollen rivers hitting residential areas, tearing up roads and inundating farmland.
Asakura was among the hardest hit with footage showing floodwaters surging through the streets.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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