Japan flooding: 3 deaths, levee breaks, many missing

In the latest area to suffer from extreme flooding caused by a lingering rainy season and compounded by a topical storm, rescue teams in Osaki City, in the northeastern prefecture of Misaki, are battling to save residents after a section of a levee containing the Shibui River broke early Friday morning.

Around 100 buildings in the city have been flooded, prompting calls from residents to the city government and emergency services for aid.

As many as 1,000 people live in the affected area, the city's disaster prevention office told CNN Friday, but the office could not confirm how many were seeking rescue. More than 700 Osaki residents have been temporarily placed in shelters according to NHK, Japan's state media.

Rescue workers including firefighters and members of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) were using boats and helicopters to reach residents. The disaster prevention office said that 115 people had been rescued as of 2.50 p.m. Friday (1:50 a.m. Friday ET).

Heavy flooding causes deaths, injuries

Heavy flooding over eastern Japan has caused three deaths, almost two dozen unaccounted for and houses washed away as residents were forced to their rooftops, desperate for rescue by military helicopters.

In Miyagi Prefecture, one woman was found dead in her floating car, and in Tochigi Prefecture, to the north of the capital Tokyo, two deaths were reported, one in a landslide and another who had drowned.

At least 28 people are injured across 10 prefectures in Japan, police say, and at least 22 people have been reported missing since floods inundated parts of eastern Japan.

Japan flooding: What's next after record rains? 02:43

Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper cited authorities in reporting the landslide death of a 63-year-old woman in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture.

The raging brown floodwaters spawned from Tropical Storm Etau, which has dumped 60 centimeters (2 feet) of rain over some areas since Monday.

Combine that with several weeks of near-daily rainfall, and swaths of eastern Japan are now deluged.

"Tochigi Prefecture is facing a grave danger and is in an emergency situation," Japan Meteorological Agency Spokesman Takuya Deshimaru said Thursday. "It is experiencing unprecedented downpour."

Joso: At the heart of the floods

At daybreak Friday in the city of Joso, Ibaraki Prefecture, CNN saw Japan Self-Defense Force (SDF) helicopters land on the roof of a shopping center where dozens of people had been stranded overnight.

In a rare break from the almost-daily rains, a hot sun has allowed flood waters to visibly recede, but many roads remain impassable. Drivers who attempted to ford the inundated streets were forced to abandon their broken down vehicles.

Additionally, local firefighters rescued 20 people, an official from Joso City's Information Office said. Nine people were reported missing in that city, authorities said.

Hundreds were reportedly left stranded overnight in the city, after the Kinugawa River burst its banks.

The Miyagi prefectural office told CNN that 181 people are still waiting for rescue in the stricken city.

READ MORE: Stranded, worried: The faces of Japan's flood victims

Hundreds of thousands evacuated

More than 400,000 people have been evacuated, officials said. Almost a million, including in Tokyo, and in seven other prefectures, have been issued evacuation advisories -- where residents have been warned they may need to leave their homes because of rising water.

Some of those who didn't leave found their houses submerged within minutes.

Members of the Japanese Self Defense Forces dropped from helicopter lines to pluck stranded residents from their roofs. Two by two, they swung precariously over the raging currents as they were pulled back up to the aircraft.

The Self Defense Forces had rescued 101 people by Thursday afternoon, a spokesman said.

Ibaraki prefecture said 70 people out of the 176 there who had called for help had been rescued.