One person was killed and two others were missing in landslides on Friday, a local official said, as Japan was hit by heavy rains just two weeks after a deadly typhoon barrelled through the country.
A woman in her 40s was sent to hospital and another woman in her 60s was unaccounted for after landslides triggered by downpour struck two houses in Chiba, southeast of Tokyo, said a local disaster management official.
"She was later confirmed dead in hospital," the official told AFP. A separate landslide destroyed a house also in Chiba and a man in his 60s was missing, he said, adding that rescuers continued their search for the two missing people.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued warnings of heavy rains, landslides and floods in a swathe of areas including eastern and central Japan.
"As risks of disasters have already increased, please be extremely vigilant about landslides, rise in river water volumes and floods as rains will continue," the JMA warned on its Twitter account.
Non-mandatory evacuation orders were issued to more than 340,000 residents in the Fukushima region and 5,000 people in Chiba, public broadcaster NHK reported.
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Footage showed cars splashing through roads partly inundated with water, and swollen rivers seemingly on the verge of flooding.
Some 4,700 houses in the region were without power by Friday evening, while some train services were suspended, officials said.
Japan was hit by typhoon Hagibis about two weeks ago, with the death toll from the violent storm now standing at more than 80.
Residents still picking up the pieces after that storm expressed frustrations over reconstruction delays and their fear of another disaster.
"I'm a bit worried that if an evacuation order is issued, we will have to leave here," a woman in Nagano in central Japan who was cleaning up mud told NHK.
Many of the river banks and levees that were breached during Typhoon Hagibis have not yet been repaired.