A tropical storm has hit central Japan forcing thousands of people to be evacuated in two northeastern cities.
About 65,000 people in Koriyama have been ordered to move to higher ground as local rivers overflow their banks. In the coastal city of Kesennuma, 118 miles northeast of Koriyama, another 61,000 residents have been ordered to leave their homes.
Packing sustained winds of 67 mph, tropical storm Chata’an crossed over several small outlying islands and came ashore on southern Shikoku, one of Japan's four main islands.
Heavy rains were washing over much of Japan's main island throughout the day.
In Oita, southern Japan, a junior high school student was found dead in a swollen river where he went missing after chasing a football while playing with his classmates at a riverbank playground, local police said.
The city of Ogaki, in central Japan, ordered 6,675 people to evacuate their homes to city-run facilities and school gymnasiums as a river flooded its banks.
Two men who had been fishing were swept away by the rain-swollen river. One was rescued by helicopter but the other, a 53-year-old lorry driver, remains missing.
About 8,980 more residents in other areas drenched by the rains in central Japan have also been evacuated and more than 100 schools are shut.
AP