At least 11 dead after Japan typhoon

AT LEAST 11 people have been found dead in Japan, most of them elderly residents at a nursing home, after heavy overnight rain from Typhoon Lionrock left towns flooded across the country’s north.

Police discovered nine bodies in the town of Iwaizumi while checking another facility in the flooded neighbourhood, said Takehiro Hayashijiri, an official at the Iwate prefecture disaster management division.

The identity of the victims and other details, including the whereabouts of their caretakers, were not known, Mr Hayashijiri said. Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the home was for people with dementia.

Authorities found two more bodies, one in the same town and the second in the town of Kuji, in Iwate prefecture, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

Footage on Japan’s national broadcaster NHK showed the nursing home partially buried in mud, surrounded by debris washed down in the swollen river.

At another nursing home, a rescue helicopter perched on a flat roof, airlifting residents, each wrapped in a blanket and carried by helpers.

“We’re making a governmentwide effort to assess the extent of damage,” chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

The government sent the SelfDefence Force to help in the rescue and clean-up effort.

Further north, on the island of Hokkaido, at least two rivers broke through their banks.

The disaster management agency said at least one person went missing while driving or riding in a car that went down with a bridge torn away by the flood.