Heavy rain lashed Japan's main island of Honshu on Tuesday, disrupting rush-hour transport and prompting one city to advise residents to evacuate.
The western city of Wakayama was deluged by 55.5 millimeters of rain per hour during the early morning — a record for May — while central Tokyo and central Nagoya recorded 13.5 mm per hour and 23 mm per hour, respectively.
The city of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture urged some residents to evacuate as river levels rose. The prefectural government issued a mudslide warning for a wider area including Fujinomiya, Shimada, Kakegawa and Fujieda.
The Meteorological Agency said a cold front passing Honshu and the inflow of a warm and humid air mass brought the heavy rain. It also warned of high waves, strong winds, lightning and tornadoes along the Pacific coast of eastern Japan.
Trains in the Kanto region covering the Tokyo metropolitan area were delayed or suspended, and a ferry service in Tokyo Bay was canceled.
The agency expects 180 mm of rain in the 24 hours through 6 a.m. Wednesday in parts of Kanto, the Izu island chain south of Tokyo, and the Tokai region that includes Shizuoka Prefecture.
