Heavy rain floods southern Japan; over a dozen presumed dead (update)

Areas are inundated in muddy waters that gushed out from the Kuma River in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto prefecture, southwestern Japan, Saturday, July 4, 2020. Heavy rain triggered flooding and mudslides on Saturday, leaving more than a dozen missing and others stranded on rooftops waiting to be rescued. More than 75,000 residents in the prefectures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima were asked to evacuate following pounding rains overnight. - Kyodo News via AP

TOKYO July 4 (AP): Heavy rain in southern Japan triggered flooding and mudslides on Saturday, leaving more than a dozen people presumed dead, about 10 missing and dozens stranded on rooftops waiting to be rescued, officials and news reports said.

More than 75,000 residents in the prefectures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima were urged to evacuate following pounding rains overnight. The evacuation was not mandatory and it was not known how many actually fled.