Heavy rain leaves 7 dead, 2 missing in Kyushu

Heavy rainfall in the Kyushu region of southwestern Japan had left seven people dead and two others unaccounted for as of 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

Five of the deaths were reported in Fukuoka Prefecture in the island's north. In the Tanushimaru district of Kurume City, multiple homes were struck by a mudslide on Monday morning. City officials say nine people were recovered from the site of the disaster, along with the body of a man in his 70s.

In the Araki district of the same city, a man reportedly appearing to be in his 40s or 50s was pronounced dead after being found lying in a rice field on Monday afternoon. Police say the body could be that of a man last seen on Monday morning about three kilometers away trying to escape from a vehicle caught in water who may have been swept away.

In the town of Soeda, a 77-year-old woman was killed when a mudslide trapped her and her husband, also in his 70s, in their home early on Monday morning.

In Hirokawa Town, a man in his 70s was pronounced dead at a hospital after he had been found inside a truck in an irrigation channel.

The body of a man in his 50s was found in an underpass flooded to a depth of about 3.6 meters in the city of Dazaifu. Police say he is likely to have drowned when he found himself unable to escape from the passageway.

In Saga Prefecture southwest of Fukuoka, a mudslide hit two houses. A woman was found in the debris without vital signs and later pronounced dead. Rescuers from the police and fire departments are searching for two men still unaccounted for.

On Tuesday morning, a man was found floating near the river downstream from the site and was pronounced dead. The prefectural government and the police say he could be one of the missing men.

A search is also underway in Oita Prefecture for a woman in her 50s who vanished on a riverside road in the city of Nakatsu. Authorities say they found a white vehicle that is believed to be hers in the region southeast of Fukuoka.