20 Dead in Japan Flooding

At least 20 are dead and 400,000 are under evacuation orders after flooding ravaged south-west Japan over the past three days, report the BBC and AFP. Television footage has shown flooded houses and streets deluged with muddy, debris-filled water, following what officials called "unprecedented" seasonal rainfall. The southern island of Kyushu was hit especially hard, and officials say landslides and flooding there will only continue.

"Two men were rescued from landslides but their conditions were not immediately available. One woman was still trapped," said a spokesman on Kyushu, which had up to 4.3 inches of rain per hour today. "I don't remember any flooding which stretched over such a wide area in our prefecture." (More Japan stories.)