Tens of thousands of people were urged to evacuate on Friday (Aug 13) as "unprecedented" levels of torrential rain hit western Japan, raising the risk of floods and landslides, the weather agency said. The downpours are forecast to continue for several days over a large swathe of the country, from the northern Tohoku region to Kyushu in the south. "There is a possibility that a grave disaster will occur" in the coming days, a Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) official told an emergency news conference shown live on public broadcaster NHK. In Unzen city in southern Nagasaki prefecture, two houses were hit by a ... (full story)