Japan rains: Toll rises, more areas warned of heavy rain

Locals take shelter at an evacuation centre in Yatsushiro on Monday. Pic/AFP

The death toll from three days of heavy rain and flooding in southern Japan rose to 40 on Monday, including 14 who drowned at a riverside nursing home, as rescuers searched for 10 missing people and rain threatened wider areas of the main island of Kyushu, officials said.

Army troops and other rescuers worked their way through mud and debris along the flooded Kuma River, where many houses and buildings were submerged nearly to their roofs.

The Meteorological Agency issued the highest weather warning for three prefectures in northern Kyushu after heavy rain hit the island's southern region over the weekend. More than half a million people were advised to evacuate across Kyushu.

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