A huge landslide swept away homes and left 19 people missing at a popular resort town in central Japan on Saturday after days of heavy rain, local officials said.
Television footage showed a torrent of mud obliterating some buildings and burying others in Atami, southwest of Tokyo, with people running away as it crashed over a hillside road.
A Shizuoka prefecture disaster management official told AFP that “the safety of 19 people is unknown” after the landslide.
The local government has requested military assistance for a rescue mission, he added.
The landslide occurred at around 10:30 am and “several houses were swept away”, an Atami city official said.
More than 2,800 homes in the region were without power, according to the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).
Experts say climate change is intensifying the phenomenon because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, resulting in more intense rainfall.
The city is around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from Tokyo and is famous as a hot spring resort.
