Image caption People in Kyoto were forced to ride boats to navigate flooded streets

A powerful typhoon has made landfall in central Japan, flooding scores of houses and forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate.

Officials have asked at least 400,000 residents from four prefectures to leave their homes due to Typhoon Man-yi.

The typhoon was moving at a speed of up to 55km/ph (34 mph) by mid-day, local reports said.

The heavy downpour caused disruption to flights and bullet train services.

The evacuation orders were issued to residents in Kyoto, Shiga, Hyogo and Mie prefectures, said Kyodo news agency.

Overnight, Japan experienced "an unprecedented amount of rainfall" in Kyoto, Fukui and Shiga, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

As much as eight centimetres (three inches) per hour of rainfall was recorded, it added.

Photos in Kyoto, a popular tourist destination, showed people riding boats on flooded streets after the city's Katsura river flooded.

At least one person was reported dead, three people missing and hundreds of others injured due to the typhoon, public broadcaster NHK said.

The storm also knocked out power to thousands of homes, and airlines are considering the cancellation of more domestic flights, it added.

The eye of the storm was expected to pass near the capital, Tokyo, by mid-day, reports say.