Thousands of households were told to evacuate in Yamagata Prefecture on Monday as heavy rain continued to pound northeastern Japan, causing landslides and flooding homes.

Evacuation orders were issued to some 2,000 households in five municipalities in Yamagata. Around 910 households in the town of Shonai were also advised to evacuate as the Mogami River, a major river flowing through central Yamagata, was feared to overflow.

In the adjacent city of Sakata, about 740 people sought shelter at schools and elsewhere, according to city officials.

A total of 758 residents were temporarily stranded in Tozawa village, located next to Shonai and Sakata, after vehicles became unable to pass a national road due to mudslides and fallen trees.

Up to 4,890 homes in Yamagata had their electricity supply cut off from Sunday, according to Tohoku Electric Power Co. The rain also disrupted Yamagata shinkansen bullet train services, East Japan Railway Co. said.

The downpour in northeastern Japan started around Sunday noon, with the town of Kaneyama in the northern part of the prefecture seeing a record 312.5 millimeters of rain in a 24-hour period, which surpassed the average total amount of rain for August.