Heavy rain hit a wide area on the Pacific side of the Japanese archipelago Wednesday, disrupting traffic and prompting local authorities to issue evacuation advisories for over 360,000 people in central regions due to possible flooding.
The body of a woman in her 60s was found in the sea off Kaizuka, Osaka Prefecture, on Wednesday morning. The woman's bicycle, believed to have been used for newspaper deliveries, was left near a flooded river in the city. Police suspect she had been washed away.
The torrential rain was due to a low-pressure system coupled with a rainy season front, the Meteorological Agency said. It warned of possible landslides in Oita and Kumamoto prefectures in Kyushu, where an earthquake with an intensity of 4 to upper 5 on the Japanese scale of 7 hit Tuesday night.