At least four people are missing in Japan after heavy rains caused rivers to overflow their banks, authorities said Friday.
About 200,000 people have been asked to evacuate as heavy rainfall battered northern Japan this week, according to the fire and disaster management agency.
Public broadcaster NHK reported that around 4,000 people had been moved to shelters.
Videos show landslides and flooded roads and several cars being swept away.
Some roads, as well as high-speed trains, known as the Shinkansen in Japan, were disrupted.
Two regions in northwestern Japan’s Yamagata prefecture recorded the most rain in 24 hours since 1976, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.
Shindzo recorded 389 millimeters, and Sakata 289 millimeters, JMA announced.
The Meteorological Agency has announced that 100 to 200 millimeters of rain per day will fall in the next three days.
“Three people, including two police officers who were on a mission to search for the missing man, are missing,” the official told AFP.
The army has been sent to Yamagata to join rescue efforts carried out by police and fire officials, a government spokesman said.
At least one person died in the city of Akita, the capital of Akita Prefecture in the northern Tohoku region, the AFP news agency reported.
The four were reported missing due to heavy rain in Yamagata and Akita prefectures on the island of Honshu.
