This archive report was first published on 4 July 2020.
Japan's rainy season has brought devastating floods and landslides to western Japan, with the worst affected being a nursing home in Kumamoto where 14 people are feared dead.
According to Governor Ikuo Kabashima, the victims were found in cardio-respiratory arrest at the facility, which was flooded after a nearby river broke its banks.
"The Self-Defence Forces have launched rescue operations," Kabashima said, adding that three others at the home were suffering from hypothermia.
Some 60 to 70 people were in the home as water rushed in to the second floor on Saturday morning, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Elsewhere in Kumamoto, one person was seriously injured and nine others were missing while about 100 people were stranded as roads were cut off by floods and landslides, NHK reported.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged local people to be "on maximum alert" and ordered 10,000 troops on stand-by for immediate deployment to join rescue and recovery operations.
"We have issued evacuation orders after record heavy rain," said Toshiaki Mizukami, another official for Kumamoto prefecture.
"We strongly urge people to take action to protect their lives as it's still raining quite heavily," he told AFP.
More than 203,000 residents in Kumamoto and Kagoshima were advised to evacuate their homes, while some train services have been suspended in the region and over 8,000 households lost power.
