Heavy rain floods southern Japan

Heavy rain in southern Japan triggered flooding and mudslides on Saturday, leaving at least two dead, more than a dozen missing and others stranded on rooftops waiting to be rescued, officials said.

More than 75,000 residents in the southern prefectures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima were asked to evacuate following pounding rains overnight. The evacuation is not mandatory and it was not known how many actually fled.

Footage from broadcaster NHK showed large areas of Hitoyoshi town in Kumamoto inundated in muddy waters that gushed out from the Kuma River.  Many cars were flooded up to their windows and houses partly submerged.

Mudslides smashed into houses and floodwaters carried trunks from uprooted trees.

NHK said about 13 people were reported missing in the flooding or mudslides.

Kumamoto officials say they were still assessing the extent of damage.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set up a task force, vowing to do utmost for emergency response and rescue of those missing.

Japan Meteorological Agency had issued an extraordinary rain warnings in parts of Kumamoto, but downgraded to a regular warning Sunday morning as the rain subsided.