Heavy rain soaked portions of the Kyushu, Chugoku and Shikoku regions in western Japan, with the city of Matsuyama, in Ehime Prefecture, issuing the highest-level alert and urging nearly 190,000 residents to evacuate to shelters.

Rains brought by the remnants of Typhoon Dong-rey, or Typhoon No. 21 as it is called in Japan, which was downgraded to an extra-tropical low-pressure system, had triggered alerts for landslides and flooding while disrupting bullet train operations between Tokyo and Fukuoka.

The level-5 alert in Matsuyama for its 10 districts, comprising some 189,552 residents, urged them to take immediate life-saving action. The most serious warning, intended to urge the public to take measures quickly, is rare and only issued when the risk of deadly disasters increases significantly.

In the city of Matsuura, Nagasaki Prefecture, rainfall over the 24 hours through 9:40 a.m. Saturday hit a record 378 milimeters, while the city of Hirado, also in Nagasaki, saw a record 369 mm of rain, according to the Meteorological Agency. Parts of Hiroshima, Shimane and Yamaguchi prefectures also saw records broken, with more than 200 mm of rain over a 24-hour period through noon Saturday.

As of 4:40 p.m, the agency said a total of 222 observation points in western and central Japan had recorded their largest-ever 24-hour rainfall for November.

The storm system was gradually moving east, with the agency calling for people to be on high alert for landslides and flooding, while also being careful of lightning, tornadoes and violent winds through late Saturday.