The downpours also created a mudslide that destroyed a house in western Tokyo and resulted in damage in several other areas in and near the city, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Saturday.

Japanese meteorologists said rainfall in a 24-hour period ending Friday morning had totaled nearly 8 inches in the cities of Okazaki, Kuki and Kawauchimura, while nearly 4 inches of rain was predicted by noon Saturday in widespread areas of Japan's north, east and west. Officials warned residents to be on the lookout for flooding rivers and mudslides.

The newspaper said officials found the body of a 76-year-old woman in the kitchen of her flooded two-story house in Okazaki where she lived with her 79-year-old husband. Also in the same city, an 80-year-old woman was reported missing after part of her house was washed away by the overflowing Igagawa River.