Disastrous floods have left three dead and dozens missing in Japan, as thousands of rescuers seek to evacuate trapped residents north of Tokyo.
Local media says at least 25 people, including a pair of eight-year-old children are missing in disaster-struck Joso city.
The community of 65,000 has been hammered after a levee gave way, causing whole houses to be swept away by raging torrents.
Unprecedented rain in Japan unleashed heavy floods on Friday that forced more than 100,000 people from their homes.
Helicopters hovering over swirling, muddy waters rescued many people from the roofs of their homes. Two people were missing and at least 17 were injured.
Some areas received double the usual September rainfall in 48 hours after tropical storm Etau swept across Japan's main island of Honshu. In some places, rain-swollen rivers burst their banks.
A 63-year old woman was missing in a landslide that hit her home while a man in his 70s in the town of Joso, 56 km (35 miles) north of Tokyo, was feared trapped when water engulfed his home, NHK national television said.
"We heard a huge sound like a thunderclap, and then the hillside came down," a man told NHK, referring to the landslide that swept away his neighbour.
section of a hotel along a river is collapsed due to heavy rain in Nikko, Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015. (Kyodo News via AP) Source: Kyodo News
Television broadcast footage of helicopters winching people to safety, including an elderly couple clutching a pair of struggling dogs as the flood tore away pieces of their home.
A further 800,000 people were at one point advised to evacuate after officials issued predawn warnings of "once in a half century rains" to 5 million people in areas east and north of Tokyo.
A spokesman for operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) told the Guardian hundreds of tonnes of contaminated water have flowed into the ocean from the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Japan has put heavy emphasis on disaster prevention since a 2011 earthquake and tsunami killed nearly 20,000 people and authorities are keen to avoid criticism for what was seen as a sluggish response.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned of more rain and said he was setting up an emergency centre.
People inside houses wait to be rescued as the houses are submerged in water flooded from a river in Joso, Ibaraki prefecture, northeast of Tokyo Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015. (Kyodo News via AP) Source: Kyodo News
"The government will work as one to prioritise the safety of the people and do our best to prevent any further disaster," Abe told reporters.
Television footage showed people in Joso waving towels while waiting for help on the upper floors of homes engulfed in floods after the overflowing Kinugawa river swept through.
"I thought I was safe because I live on a hill, but pretty soon the water came up and everything was washed away," a barefoot man told Fuji TV after his helicopter rescue.
A resident is rescued from a flooded residential area in Joso, Ibaraki prefecture, northeast of Tokyo Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015. (Kyodo News via AP) Source: Kyodo News
Officials said their number would rise. Rescue workers rushed to find people before nightfall. Part of a hotel in the town of Nikko, famed for its shrines and temples, had collapsed, Kyodo news agency said, but there were no reports of injuries.
Rainfall reached 500 mm around Joso, NHK said, with weather officials expecting at least 200 mm more in parts of eastern Japan, including Fukushima, the site of the nuclear reactor crippled in 2011, before the downpour stops on Friday.
Additional reporting Reuters
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