Dozens die as floods ravage Japan

Thousands of people in southern Japan remained cut off by floods and mudslides triggered by torrential rains that have killed at least 26 people, local authorities said.

Evacuation orders issued a day earlier for a quarter of a million people were lifted in most areas as the rains subsided, allowing many people to return home.

But thousands remained cut off by landslides or fallen trees that blocked roads in mountainous areas.

More than 3,000 people were left stranded in Yame, in Fukuoka Prefecture in south western Japan, where roads were cut off to seven districts, the Kyodo news agency reported, citing local authorities.

The Japanese military airlifted food by helicopters to stranded districts.

Local officials raised the death toll from the torrential rains in the northern parts of the Kyushu region to 26 and six people remain missing in Kumamoto, Oita and Fukuoka prefectures, Kyodo reported. Most of the victims were in their 70s and 80s.