Torrential rain lashes Japan, three feared dead after landslide

Torrential rain lashed much of Japan on Sunday, submerging roads and buildings in the western part of the country, while three people were feared dead after a landslide in central Nagano prefecture.

Large parts of Japan, particularly the southernmost main island of Kyushu, have seen record levels of rainfall, causing rivers to overflow and triggering landslides.

While the rain had stopped in much of Kyushu as of Sunday morning, Tokyo and other parts of the country were pounded by the downpour.

The Japanese government will hold a ministerial meeting on the heavy rains on Sunday afternoon, Kyodo reported.

In Takeo, a city in Saga prefecture in Kyushu, entire roads were submerged as rescue workers in wetsuits dragged inflatable boats and surveyed the damage. Local residents carried broomsticks and buckets and waded knee-deep in water.

Elsewhere in Saga prefecture, 113 patients at a local hospital and 69 nursing home residents at the same site were safely evacuated to higher floors after flooding, public broadcaster NHK said. Footage from NHK showed the hospital building and surrounding area flooded with water, which reached the top of the tyres of cars parked in the hospital parking lot.

Three people, including a boy under 10, were without vital signs after a landslide hit a house in Okaya city, in central Nagano, while four people were missing in three other prefectures as of Sunday noon, NHK said.