1 dead, 3 missing as northeastern Japan battered by heavy rain

At least one person was reported dead and three others unaccounted for after heavy rain pounded parts of northeastern Japan that triggered river flooding and landslides, local authorities said Friday, Kyodo reports.

Yoshio Sato, 86, is believed to have been carried away by the flooded Omono River in Akita Prefecture and was found dead, while another man was reported missing at a construction site in Yuzawa in the same prefecture. Two police officers in their 20s in the neighboring Yamagata Prefecture have been unreachable after being swept away in a police car.

The Yamagata prefectural police said it received an emergency call at around 11:45 p.m. on Thursday from one of the missing officers in the city of Shinjo, who had gone out to respond to a request for help, saying that the car they were in was being carried away by the water. The vehicle was later found half submerged.

"It is a matter of deepest regret. We will use all of our strength in our search and rescue mission," the Yamagata prefectural police chief Kunio Suzuki told reporters.

Areas of Tozawa, Yamagata, have become submerged, leaving some residents isolated, as the country's Self-Defense Forces and the prefecture conducted rescue missions. It is unclear how many people need rescuing, according to the local fire department.

The Japan Meteorological Agency downgraded its heavy rain warnings across six municipalities in Yamagata but continued to warn of flooding and landslides.

"We have dispatched the SDF for disaster relief operations. We will continue to gather information and apply every possible measure," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a meeting of government officials.

The National Police Agency set up an emergency response office in the early hours of Friday.