Tokyo: Two people rescued from a mudslide showed no vital signs and about 10 others were missing after heavy rains lashed Kyushu island in southern Japan, Kyodo News reported on Saturday.

Residents in 11 local communities in Kumamoto Prefecture were told to evacuate because of floods from the overflowing Kuma River and others, Kyodo said.

It is the third year in a row that storms unleash their fury on the country in the first week of July.

Four factories run by Sony Semiconductor Solutions on the island were operating normally in the prefectures of Kumamoto, Kagoshima, Nagasaki and Oita, spokesperson Masahito Takeda said by phone Saturday.

Sony's Kumamoto factory makes image sensors for iPhones and other smartphones.

Another company operating in Kumamoto, Oji Paper, said its factory in the city of Yatsushiro was shut on Saturday, but hasn't suffered damage from the rain.

Bloomberg