Torrential rain lashed the northern part of the Tohoku region Tuesday, leaving three people missing due to floods after record downpours hit some districts. Akita and Iwate prefectures were hit particularly hard, and authorities were searching for the missing people and attempting to restore utilities.

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Buildings are engulfed by muddy waters from the flood-swollen Yoneshirogawa river in Noshiro, Akita Prefecture.


A 59-year old farmer in Morioka was reported missing Tuesday evening after he went out to check a nearby river. On Monday evening, a 57-year-old woman was swept away in her car by the swollen Anigawa river in Kita-Akita, Akita Prefecture. A newspaper delivery man, 64, went missing Tuesday morning after falling into the flooded Kitakamigawa river as he was on his rounds on a road in Shiwacho, Iwate Prefecture. Also, an 87-year old man collapsed and died at a shelter in Kita-Akita.

As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, 183 houses in Akita and Iwate prefectures were flooded above floor level, and 605 were flooded below floor level. Heavy rains prompted the authorities to order 36,120 residents in 14,233 households in Akita, Iwate, Miyagi and Aomori prefectures to evacuate, but the order was lifted by Tuesday evening in most areas.

Services on the Akita Shinkansen Line and JR Hanawa, Kamaishi and other lines were completely suspended, and those on the JR Ou Line were partially suspended Tuesday. Despite buried under mud on about a 20-meter stretch of embankment, Akita Shinkansen services are scheduled to resume from the first service Wednesday morning, but JR Hanawa Line services are unlikely to resume Wednesday.

Ten weather observation spots in Akita Prefecture had recorded the heaviest-ever 24-hour rainfall through 3 a.m. Tuesday.