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AFP: Five dead, eight missing in Japan mudslides: officials:

TOKYO — Torrential rains triggered scores of floods and landslides in western Japan on Tuesday, leaving at least five people dead and eight more missing, police and other officials said.

A nursing home for the elderly was hit by a large landslide in Hofu City, Yamaguchi prefecture, some 750 kilometres (470 miles) west of Tokyo, prompting the military to send a rescue unit there, the municipal office said.

Three people died and four were missing at the nursing home, the ground floor of which was inundated with mud, Yamaguchi prefectural police said.

"A total of 99 people had been housed at the nursing home, and we have confirmed 92 are alive," a police official told AFP by telephone.

One other person was killed in a landslide and another by a swollen river.

In total seven people were missing in Hofu, a city of 120,000 by the scenic Inland Sea, and one more was missing in a nearby area.

"The mountain behind the nursing home collapsed at about 1:30 pm and water gushed down in a mixture of red soil, mud and small rocks," Jyunko Sasaki, a housewife who lives near the facility, told Fuji television network.

The Hofu city office said there were 29 landslides and that rivers and canals flooded in 46 places. At least three cars were buried in mud and rocks.

A flash-flood swept a team of firefighters off their feet, although injuries were limited to one of them breaking a finger, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Side note: It's raining like the dickens here, but we're nowhere near all this craziness.