Tokyo. At least five people died in eastern Japan after "unprecedented" heavy rain left thousands stranded at Narita airport overnight and disrupted roads and rail services, authorities said Friday.

This month is already the wettest August recorded by the Chiba weather station in 60 years, according to Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) data, with more than 30 centimetres (nearly 12 inches) of rain falling in 24 hours.

The torrential downpours late Thursday triggered landslide warnings and power outages, while forecasters issued the highest-level heavy rain warning for the Chiba region for the first time.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is making extreme weather more frequent, prolonged and intense.

In rural Chiba, more than a dozen cars were abandoned on low-lying roads, an AFP journalist saw.

At Narita, sleeping bags were piled up as passengers slept throughout the terminal, with massive lines forming for check-in at the airport.

A traveller from the United Kingdom who gave his name as Philip told AFP he endured a nine-hour journey, including a taxi ride, before finally arriving at the airport early Friday morning.

With a sleeping bag in hand, he said he had "just been trying to get some sleep and watching Netflix."

"Just get on with it, really. Nothing else you can do," he said.

At a disaster management meeting convened Friday afternoon, a Chiba prefectural official said five people had been confirmed dead.

The prefecture had previously said those killed included a man in his 60s or 70s who was found floating in a flooded road and a 66-year-old woman trapped in her submerged car.

Other fatalities included a man of unknown age who was found collapsed on a street and another person whose gender and age had not been determined.

Public broadcaster NHK reported that as many as eight people may have died.

Meanwhile, nearly 26,000 households across Chiba prefecture were without power, the disaster management office said.

Homes Flooded
More than 80 homes were flooded in cities including Ichikawa, Kashiwa and Sakura. In addition, nearly 90 homes reported water seeping in below floor level.

"I never thought I'd spend the night at the airport, but it is what it is and we are learning," one stranded air traveller told NHK.

"We're never going to forget this trip," he said.

A JMA official told a news conference Thursday that the rainfall was "shaping up to be an unprecedented level of heavy rain."

Around 6,000 people were stranded overnight at Narita, one of two main airports serving Tokyo, while many trains to and from the airport were cancelled until Friday afternoon, the Chiba disaster office said.

Users on social media said airport staff handed out free water, food and sleeping bags.

Hundreds of people were also stranded at Chiba Station due to suspended train services, an AFP journalist saw.

Hundreds spent the night in shelters across Chiba, NHK reported, showing cars submerged up to their headlights in Kashiwa.

"This happened all of a sudden, so it was a complete surprise. The power is out, so I'm worried whether I can open my business in the next couple of days," a woman in Ichikawa, Chiba, told NHK on Thursday.

The Level 5 heavy rain warnings were downgraded to Level 4 by Friday morning.

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