Japan's weather agency issued the highest emergency level of heavy rain warnings for Nagasaki, Saga and Fukuoka on Kyushu island. /AFP
Japan warned of more heavy rain on the southwestern island of Kyushu on Tuesday as the death toll in flood-hit areas reached at least 52, with more than a dozen people reported missing.
"The rain front is expected to remain until the ninth (of July), and rain is expected over a wide front stretching from western to eastern Japan," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a regular press briefing, urging people to take the necessary precautions to ensure their safety.
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 49 of the dead confirmed as of Tuesday morning were from riverside towns in the Kumamoto region. One person was found dead in Fukuoka as the heavy rain spread across the southern area.
Several rivers in the Kyushu area have exceeded warning levels, and many dams in the region have been opened for emergency flood discharge. Following Kumamoto and Kagoshima on Kyushu, Japan on Monday issued its highest level of rain warnings for another three prefectures: Nagasaki, Saga and Fukuoka, asking some 1.4 million people to take shelter.
Police officers search for missing people at the site of a landslide caused by heavy rain in Tsunagi town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, July 7, 2020. /Reuters
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned the weather front was heading across the country, predicting "heavy rain over a wide area" and urging people to "take action to protect their lives."
Rescue operations in southwestern Japan have been hampered by the floodwater and continuing harsh weather.
In the worst-affected region of Kumamoto, bad weather was preventing some rescue efforts, local officials said, with at least 13 people still unaccounted for.
"Because of the heavy rain, we were forced to cancel some emergency flights of helicopters over the disaster zone," local disaster management official Tsubasa Miyamoto told AFP.
The floods washed away roads and bridges, cutting off many isolated communities.
A local firefighter in the western region of Kagoshima said they used boats to rescue 11 people, but conditions were making it hard to reach others stranded.
Residents are rescued by Japan Self-Defense Force soldiers using a rubber boat on a flooded road, caused by heavy rain in Omuta, Fukuoka prefecture, southern Japan, July 7, 2020. /Reuters
"Calls came from people telling us that they wanted to flee their home but they could not do it on their own," he said.
"Some roads are submerged and you cannot drive through them."
In one of the hardest-hit areas, residents wrote out the words "rice, water, SOS" on the ground, while others waved towels and called for rescue and relief goods.
At a nursing home for the elderly, 14 people were feared dead when water from a nearby river inundated the ground floor, leaving those in wheelchairs unable to reach higher ground.
Emergency services, aided by locals in rafts, managed to rescue around 50 residents and staff from the facility, bringing them to safety by boat.
Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters that more than 40,000 personnel from police and fire departments, the coast guard and self-defense units were conducting search and rescue operations throughout the night.
(With input from agencies)