One person has died and several people are missing after record rainfall brought flooding and landslides to coastal Japan, in the same region that was hit by a massive earthquake on New Year’s Day, local authorities said.

Unprecedented rainfall caused flooding on the Noto Peninsula in central Japan, leaving at least one dead and eleven missing.

One person was killed and at least seven were missing on Saturday, officials said, as "unprecedented" rains triggered floods and landslides in Japan's quake-hit region of Ishikawa, where authorities told tens of thousands to evacuate.