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The record of record rains that devastated parts of Japan on Sunday rose to at least 44, officials said, as authorities issued new warnings as torrential rains continued.
Local media put the balance sheet at 50 The number of deaths is expected to increase further.
The official toll includes one person killed last week, when the typhoon system that caused the heavy rains hit Japan, but most deaths have been reported in recent days
Rain, which was the strongest in the west of the country, completely covered some villages, forcing desperate residents to shelter on the roofs with waters that swirled while waiting for help. caused sudden floods and landslides, and prompted the authorities to order the evacuation of two million people.
Hundreds of people were injured and dozens of homes were completely destroyed in Yoshihide Fujitani, a disaster management official in Hiroshima Prefecture, told AFP: " We are also conducting evacuations and restoring critical infrastructure such as water and gas. "
" We are doing our best. "
A government official told AFP that" we are doing our best. " 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.
On Saturday, Abe warned at a government emergency meeting that "the situation is extremely serious" and ordered his government to "make a general effort" to rescue those affected.
Tens of thousands of rescuers, police and military personnel were mobbed ilised to respond to the disaster, and the meteorological agency has issued its highest level of warning for the affected areas.
– "My house washed away" –
The floods engulfed entire villages, submerged tidying the streets up to the roof level. In some places, you could just see the top of the traffic lights over the rising waters.
"My house was simply washed away and completely destroyed," Toshihide Takigawa, a 35-year-old employee at a gas station in Hiroshima, said, "I was in a car and mbadive waves of water gushed to me from the front and from the back, then swallowed the road, but I was terrified, "Nikkei daily said. Yuzo Hori told Mainichi Shimbun newspaper in Hiroshima
Although the typhoon began last week, the worst rain hit Thursday, when a construction worker was swept away by floods in Hyogo prefecture in West of Japan. Since then, the number of victims reported missing has steadily increased
Conditions have made rescue operations difficult, with some desperate citizens traveling to Twitter to call for help.
Second Floor, "A woman in Kurashiki, Okayam wrote, posting a photo of her room half flooded.
" Children could not climb to the roof, "she says "The temperature of my body has gone down, help us quickly, help us."
In a place where roads were flooded, rescuers used boats or helicopters to transport the affected people.
Car manufacturers Daihatsu and Mitsubishi have declared that they have suspended operations in the factories in the affected regions.
The disaster is the deadliest in Japan since 2014, when at least 74 people were killed by torrential rains In Hiroshima, on Sunday morning, high-level warnings were raised for some affected areas as rain began to subside.
But elsewhere in the west and south between Japan, the torrential rains continued to fall. level warnings for Kochi and Ehime, in the west of the country.
An aerial view of the flooded houses in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Hundreds of wounded and dozens of homes were completely destroyed. Heavy rains caused flash floods and landslides, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of two million people
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