Two people are dead and at least 19 others are missing after a huge landslide caused by days of heavy rain swept away homes in central Japan on Saturday morning. Television footage showed a torrent of mud crushing some buildings and burying others in Atami, a resort town south-west of Tokyo, while residents ran as it crashed over a hillside road. The fire and disaster management agency said as many as 80 homes had been buried. “I heard a horrible sound and saw a mudslide flowing downwards as rescue workers were urging people to evacuate. So I ran to higher ground,” the head of a local temple told public broadcaster NHK. “When I returned, houses and cars that had been in front of the temple were gone.” NHK showed footage of collapsed and half-submerged houses, while social media users posted clips of partially submerged cars and rescue workers wading through waist-high water with a small life-raft. Heita Kawakatsu, the governor of Shizuoka prefecture, told reporters that the coastguard had discovered the bodies of two people who had been swept into the sea by the mudslide. Rescuers from Japan’s self-defence forces joined firefighters and police officers in Atami, a famous hot spring resort located 90km (55 miles) from Tokyo. About 80 people were evacuated and 2,380 households were without power, media reports said. The prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, asked people in the area to stay vigilant. “There may be more heavy rainfall and we need to observe the highest level of caution,” Suga said in televised remarks after a meeting of an emergency taskforce. A Shizuoka prefecture disaster management official told AFP that “the safety of 19 people is unknown”. The landslide occurred at about 10.30am and several houses were swept away, an Atami city official said. A video posted on TikTok from the scene showed a huge slurry of mud and debris sliding slowly down a steep road and nearly engulfing a white car, which drove away before a faster and more devastating torrent arrived. Much of Japan is in its annual rainy season, which lasts several weeks and often causes floods and landslides, prompting local authorities to issue evacuation orders. Experts say the climate emergency is intensifying the phenomenon because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, resulting in more intense rainfall. More than 200 people died as devastating floods inundated western Japan in 2018, and last year dozens more were killed as the coronavirus pandemic complicated relief efforts. Atami experienced rainfall of 313mm (12.3in) in just 48 hours to Saturday – higher than the usual monthly average of 242.5mm in July, according to NHK. Japan’s meteorological agency called on the public to be on alert for mudslides, flooding and swollen rivers.