07 July

Japan's Meteorological Agency has issued a heavy rain emergency warning for parts of Fukuoka, Saga and Nagasaki prefectures in the southwestern region of Kyushu. That's the agency's highest-level warning on the five-step scale.

In Omuta City, in Fukuoka Prefecture, an elementary school and a community center designated as a temporary evacuation center were flooded. The city requested Self-Defense Forces personnel to be dispatched to rescue 242 trapped evacuees.

A resident said, "About 80 people have been evacuated here including about 30 elementary school students. It's dark inside because we can't put on the lights. The electric facility was damaged from flooding."

Kumamoto Prefecture has been the most affected so far.

Forty-nine people are confirmed dead, one person has no vital signs and 11 are still missing. Rivers have flooded in a dozen places.

Nagasaki Prefecture has also seen extensive damage. In Omura City, slopes along a road collapsed. Mud and large rocks have blocked the road, and a residential district saw flooding from a nearby river.

NHK