Eleven killed, at least 45 missing as torrential rain pounds Japan

REUTERS - At least 45 people are missing as torrential rains that have killed 11 people pounded western and central Japan, public broadcaster NHK said on Saturday (July 7), with more than 1.6 million people evacuated from their homes. Japan's Meteorological Agency issued special weather warnings across four prefectures in the west of Japan's main island of Honshu, urging vigilance against landslides, rising rivers and strong wind amid what it called "historic" rains. The agency said that, although a weather front had settled between western and eastern Japan, there was a risk that heavy rains would continue as warm airflow towards the front. Areas already saturated faced more rain on Sunday, it said. A man in the far western city of Hiroshima died after falling off a bridge into a river, while a 77-year-old man in Takashima city, Shiga prefecture, was killed after being swept into a canal as he worked to remove debris, NHK said.