Raging floodwater rushing through the streets of northern Japan is so severe it created a sinkhole in one village that swallowed up a car.
At least three people are missing and thousands have been ordered to evacuate northern Japan where torrential rains are pounding the area, flooding roads, and causing rivers to burst their banks.
Terrifying clips and drone images showed entire districts submerged in filthy brown water as the water rumbled through communities in Yamagata, in Japan's central Niigata prefecture.
More than 500 mm (19 inches) of rain had fallen in one part of Niigata in the 24 hours preceding 1pm (5am BST), NHK public television said, prompting authorities to issue the highest possible level of disaster warnings in some areas.
Bridges were cut and roads were flooded, television footage showed. Service along one portion of a Shinkansen superfast train line was suspended.
Roughly 500,000 people were ordered to evacuate in Niigata, Ishikawa and Yamagata prefectures, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said, but there were no immediate reports of fatalities.
Though the affected areas are largely rural, they are also home to a number of factories.
Tokyo government officials said that around 1,900 households remain without electricity and they fear serious disasters have already occurred that will later come to light.
Major chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp temporarily suspended operations at its factory in Yamagata, northern Japan, after local authorities issued a warning over heavy rains on Wednesday evening but said operations were mostly back to normal.
Technoflex Corporation said it was suspending production at a factory in Murakami due to a power outage and flooding until the situation stabilised.
In 2018, more than 80 were killed and 2,000 stranded following torrential rain and landslides in western Japan that involved the evacuation of two million people.
Residents were seen fleeing their homes, some still wearing their pyjamas and others clutching their pets, after downpours drenched the crisis-hit country.
Some 54,000 military and police were dispatched while helicopters and boats were used to save people from swollen rivers and buildings, including a hospital.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned of a "race against time" to rescue victims.
A city official said late on Sunday that 170 patients and staff had been evacuated, while public broadcaster NHK later said about 80 people were still stranded.
"I'm most grateful to the rescuers," said Shigeyuki Asano, a 79-year-old patient who spent a night without electricity or water.
"I feel so relieved that I a"I feel so relieved that I am now liberated from such a bad-smelling, dark place."
