Torrents of rainfall and f...

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) - Searches continued Sunday night for victims of heavy rainfall that hammered southern Japan for the third straight day, as the government put the death toll at 48, with 28 others presumed dead. A government official told AFP a special crisis cell had been created to respond to the disaster and would hold a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday morning. Television footage showed a massive rescue operation, with 2,310 rescued in the city by evening, according to NHK, while search and rescue teams continued to look for others. Among the missing was a 9-year-old boy believed trapped in his house by a landslide that killed at least three others, including a man in his 80s. In another area in Hiroshima, 12 people went missing when a residential area got sucked into a landslide, and one body was later found. Emergency warnings for severe rain in 11 prefectures ÿ the most since a new warning system was introduced in 2013 — had been lifted by evening, but advisories for heavy rain and landslides remained in effect in many areas. A city official said 170 patients and staff had been evacuated while public broadcaster NHK later said about 80 people were still stranded. TV footage showed convenience stores with shelves mostly bare while elsewhere, residents lined up to receive water. Japan's government set up an emergency management center at the prime minister's office and some 54,000 rescuers from the military, police and fire departments were dispatched across a wide swath of western and southwestern Japan. Hundreds of people have been injured, and dozens of homes have been completely destroyed in the disastrous downpours. The government has deployed tens of thousands of rescue workers, police and military personnel to respond to the disaster, and the meteorological agency has issued its highest level warning for affected areas.
The death toll from heavy rains in Japan rises to 49.