24 dead in Japan flooding

The death toll in Japan has increased to 24 as torrential rains causing flooding and landslides in the southern area of the country, officials said Sunday. Local authorities in Fukuoka prefecture said a 70-year-old man died in a landslide and another man died while caught in his car at an irrigation channel floodgate, Kyodo News reported. Officials have called for the evacuation of about 240,000 residents in the Oita, Fukuoka and Saga prefectures, Jiji Press reported. A record-setting hourly rainfall of 4.3 inches per hour was recorded near Yame and Chikugo Saturday morning and as much as 5.9 inches of rain was expected from noon Saturday to noon Sunday, Jiji Press reported. More than 31 inches of rain fell in Kumamoto prefecture over four days, damaging more than 600 properties, Sky News reported.