Torrential rain leaves 6 dead, 3 missing in Japan

Torrential rain hit western Japan for two days since Friday, leaving six people dead and three others missing from mudslides and flooding, local authorities said.

Torrential rain hit western Japan for two days since Friday, leaving six people dead and three others missing from mudslides and flooding, local authorities said.

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Six people were killed in Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Oita prefectures of northern Kyushu and Hiroshima Prefecture in the Chugoku region, while three were reported missing in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Of the two people who were earlier reported as missing in Hiroshima Prefecture, Satoshi Umeda, a 91-year-old woman, was found dead in the debris of her home after it was hit by a mudslide. Her 67-year-old son Shizunori was also buried but survived.

A landslide occurred in Fukuchi, Fukuoka Prefecture, yesterday burying two houses and killing Hidenobu Nagasue, a 73-year-old resident, the local police said.

The body of Yukie Iwamoto, 54, was found after her car apparently fell off a bridge into an irrigation channel in Maebaru, Fukuoka Prefecture.

Masanori Shibata (60) was found dead after he was apparently swept away by a swollen river in Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture.

In Iki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Kiyomitsu Yamauchi (67), died after a cinder block fence fell on him due to a landslide while a 7-year-old boy, who was carried away by a swollen river, was later found dead in Hita, Oita Prefecture.