Japan sends in troops after deadly typhoon floods towns, threatens more damage

Kiyokazu Shimokawa, 71, speaking at an evacuation center, said he had waited all night with his wife and mother until they were finally rescued around 3 pm (0600 GMT) on Sunday.

"I made the mistake of figuring that as long as we were on the second floor of the house, we'd be fine," he told Reuters. "When we realized that maybe we should evacuate, it was too late – the water rose very quickly."

Rie Hasegawa, a woman in her 30s, said she never imagined her landlocked town would be inundated. "The force of the water was incredible. It was dark, frightening, and I thought this might be the end," she said.

Typhoon Hagibis, which means "speed" in the Philippine language Tagalog, made landfall on Japan's main island of Honshu on Saturday evening and headed out to sea early on Sunday.