The death toll in the worst typhoon to hit Japan for decades climbed to 67 on Tuesday as rescuers slogged through mud and debris in an increasingly grim search for the missing.
Bodies pulled from flooded cars and homes, swollen rivers and landslides all added to the death toll.
The casualties included a municipal worker whose car was engulfed by floodwaters and at least seven crew from a cargo ship that sank in Tokyo Bay on Saturday night, a coast guard spokesman said.
The highest toll was in Fukushima prefecture north of Tokyo, a largely agricultural area where the Abukuma River burst its banks in at least 14 places.
At least 18 people died in Fukushima, including a mother and her child who were caught in flood waters. The woman’s son, who was also with her in the flood, remains missing.
About 138,000 households were without water while 24,000 had no electricity, well down on the hundreds of thousands who were initially left without power but a cause for concern in northern areas where temperatures are forecast to fall.
Fresh rain threatened to hamper efforts by tens of thousands of Japanese rescuers searching for survivors. While local media reported temperatures are likely to drop in many areas later this week, in some cases to unseasonably low levels.
Typhoon Hagibis crashed into the country on Saturday night, unleashing high winds and torrential rain across 36 of the country’s 47 prefectures, triggering landslides and catastrophic flooding.
