The police said about 200 residents were awaiting rescue and nearly 80 were rescued, according to the Kyodo News agency. Eight students and 10 teachers from a kindergarten were later rescued by firefighters in boats, the authorities said.

Evacuation advisories and directives were issued to about 960,000 people in the Kanto region of central Honshu island, which includes Chiba, Ibaraki and Tochigi Prefectures and Tokyo.

The deluge was driven by Tropical Storm Etau, which led to as much as 16 inches of rain in 24 hours in some areas after coming ashore on Wednesday.