At least 76 people have reportedly been killed, with 92 missing and the number of fatalities expected to rise

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

More than 70 people have died and dozens are missing as torrential rain hammered parts of Japan for a third day on Sunday, with the prime minister, Shinzo Abe warning that rescue workers faced a “race against time”.

Continued rainfall prompted disaster warnings on the south-western main islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, as local media reported the death toll had risen overnight to 76, with 92 people missing.

At one point, evacuation orders or advisories were issued for 4.72 million people, while around 48,000 members of the self-defence forces, police and firefighters were mobilised to search for trapped or injured people or to recover bodies, Kyodo news said.

The government’s top spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said most of the missing people were in the southern part of Hiroshima prefecture but that their exact whereabouts were unknown.

The heaviest rainfall Japan has seen in decades has caused widespread flooding and landslides – a frequent hazard for people living in mountainous areas – with reports of cars being swept way by floodwater and people taking refuge on the roofs of their inundated homes.

Japan meteorological agency, which has issued its highest level warning for affected areas, said three hours of rainfall in one area in Kochi prefecture reached an accumulated 26.3cm (10.4 inches), the highest since such records started in 1976.

Abe, who has set up an emergency response centre, said: “The rescue efforts are a race against time,” adding that emergency workers were “doing their utmost” to locate the missing and rescue people trapped by rising floodwater.

The official death toll includes one person killed last week, when the typhoon system that brought the heavy rains first made landfall in Japan, but most of the deaths have been reported in the last few days.

Play Video 1:07 Dozens dead and 1.6 million people evacuated during Japan floods - video

The rain has blanketed some villages, forcing desperate residents to take shelter on their rooftops with flood water swirling below as they waited for rescue.

Driving rain turned a residential area in Okayama prefecture, on the main island of Honshu, into a huge lake of muddy water, forcing people to flee to rooftops and balconies. TV footage showed some waving furiously at rescue helicopters. Military paddle boats were also being used to take people to dry land.

The torrential downpours have caused flash flooding and landslides. Swollen rivers burst their banks and bridges were washed away, while bullet train services have been suspended in most parts of western Japan.

Hundreds have been injured and dozens of homes have been destroyed in the downpours. Kyodo reported several deaths in a landslide in Hiroshima and more bodies were retrieved from collapsed houses in Kyoto.

Residents in Hiroshima said the situation was worse than the summer of 2014, when torrential rain triggered landslides that killed 77 people. “It was heavier rain than four years ago. I was scared, thinking what would become of me,” Kyodo quoted a 71-year-old man as saying.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Mabicho area is submerged after Odagawa River banks collapse due to heavy rain in Okayama, Japan. Photograph: The Asahi Shimbun/(Credit too long, see caption)

Nobue Kakumoto, another Hiroshima resident said her neighbourhood had been “turned into an ocean”. The 82-year-old added: “I’m worried because I have no idea how long it will stay like this.”

Rescue workers said they were attempting to clear multiple smaller landslides that had blocked access to people in need of help.

“We are carrying out rescue operations around the clock,” Yoshihide Fujitani, a disaster management official in Hiroshima prefecture, said.

“We are also looking after evacuees and restoring lifeline infrastructure like water and gas,” he added. “We are doing our best.”

Flooding has engulfed entire villages, submerging streets up to roof level. In some places, just the top of traffic lights could be seen above the rising waters.

“My house was simply washed away and completely destroyed,” Toshihide Takigawa, a 35-year-old employee at a gas station in Hiroshima, told the Nikkei daily on Saturday.

In some places, with the flooding making roads impassable, rescuers were using boats or helicopters to airlift those affected to safety.

Several major manufacturers, including carmakers Daihatsu and Mitsubishi, said they had suspended operations at plants in the affected areas.

Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report