A slow-moving powerful typhoon dumped record rainfall in many areas of Japan over the weekend, leaving 25 dead and 52 missing, news reports said Monday.
Authorities urged 20,000 households to evacuate in many areas as the nation's meteorological agency warned of more mudslides and flooding, broadcaster NHK said.
In the prefecture of Wakayama alone, 15 were killed and 28 were missing as Typhoon Talas hit the Kii Peninsula, south of Osaka, especially hard, DPA reported.
One person died and seven people were missing after three houses were destroyed by a mudslide in Tanabe city in the prefecture while three were killed when their car was submerged in Hidakagawa town, NHK said.
TV footage showed flooded cities, severed roads, swollen rivers and houses flattened by mudslides on the peninsula. Rescue efforts have been hindered by the conditions, local media reported.
Since Tuesday, more than 1,800 millimetres of rainfall had been dumped in Kamikitayama village, Nara prefecture, which was about two-thirds of the area's annual precipitation, NHK said.
The season's 12th typhoon was travelling north-east at 15 kilometres per hour over the Sea of Japan as of 9 am (0000 GMT) after making its way across western Japan Saturday through Sunday morning, the agency said. It made landfall on the south-western island of Shikoku Saturday morning.
The storm had sustained winds of 72 kilometres per hour and gusts of 108 kilometres per hour, the agency said.
Rainfall of 60 millimetres per hour was forecast for some areas on the northern island of Hokkaido Monday evening, the agency said.
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