A male police officer has been confirmed dead and a woman was newly found to have gone missing in heavy rain that is pounding the neighboring northeastern Japan prefectures of Yamagata and Akita.
As of Sunday, fatalities from the disaster stood at two while three people were missing.
On Thursday night, two male officers in their 20s who were driving to a site where a resident had made a distress call in the city of Shinjo in Yamagata Prefecture were swept away, according to the prefectural police. One of the officers, 26-year-old Ryota Tamaya, was found in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest Friday afternoon and was confirmed dead by Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Yamagata city of Sakata said Saturday that an 86-year-old woman is missing.
Due to a seasonal rain front, Yamagata and Akita are likely to see severe rain continue until around Tuesday, and the Meteorological Agency is calling on people to beware of rising and overflowing rivers, landslides and flooding of low-lying areas.
The number of inundated residential buildings in Yamagata and Akita has so far totaled at least 109 and 164, respectively, the two prefectures said. In Akita, agricultural, forestry and fisheries damage, such as from flooded rice and vegetable fields, has reached ¥111 million ($720,000).
Seventy-two-hour rainfall totaled 444.0 millimeters by 6:20 a.m. Saturday in the Yamagata town of Mamurogawa, 400.5 ml 5:40 a.m. in Sakata and 283.0 ml by 9 a.m. in the Akita city of Kitaakita.