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Japan battered by more heavy rain, floods, nearly 60 dead

Tokyo

Pounding rain that already caused deadly floods in southern Japan was moving northeast Wednesday, battering large areas of Japan’s main island, swelling more rivers, triggering mudslides and destroying houses and roads. At least 58 people have died in several days of flooding, The Associated Press (AP) reported.

By Wednesday morning, parts of Nagano and Gifu in central Japan were flooded by massive downpours. Footage on NHK television showed a swollen river gouging into the embankment, destroying a highway, while in the city of Gero, the rising river was flowing just below a bridge. In a mountainous town of Takayama, several houses were hit by a mudslide, their residents all safely rescued.

 In Kagoshima, a pickup truck was hit by a mudslide and fell into the ocean, but the driver was airlifted out with a head injury, according to Fuji Television. In another town in Oita, two brothers in the 80s were dug up alive by rescuers after a mudslide smashed into their hillside house, NHK said.

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