Record torrential rains on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu Thursday killed six people and left 20 missing in flooding and landslides, news reports said, , according to dpa. Rescue workers had been unable to reach some of the areas where landslides took place and where people were believed to be buried, television reports said. Authorities in the prefectural capital of Kumamoto ordered about 48,000 residents to flee the city, the Kyodo News agency reported. Blackouts hit about 10,000 households in Kumamoto and Oita prefectures, the Kyushu Electric Power Co told the agency. Railway services and motor traffic were suspended, Kyodo said, while some bullet train services were temporarily halted in the island's north and centre. Among the dead was an 80-year-old woman who was washed away and later pronounced dead at an Aso city hospital, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing local authorities. Four other people were also confirmed dead. In Taketa, the body of a 74-year-old man was found and a man in his 80s was missing, NHK said. The Japan Meteorological Agency said rainfall in some parts of the island had reached levels that have "never been experienced." It said hourly rainfall in the morning topped 120 millimetres in Aso and reached 120 millimetres in Ubuyama. The agency warned of more heavy rain and landslides in northern parts of Kyushu before the downpours move north to the main island of Honshu later Thursday.
