'I don't know where to start': Rains devastate Japan town

Masanori Hiramoto stood before his traditional home in the Japanese town of Mihara, speechless at the destruction caused by record rains that have killed dozens of people.

"I have lived here all my life. I have never seen anything like this," he said, standing in shock before the house in where he and his wife raised their three daughters, all now adults.

Hiramoto was one of around 60 evacuees from Hongo district in southern Hiroshima prefecture, who ventured back to their homes today, two days after fleeing when authorities issued evacuation orders.

More than two million people across parts of central and western Japan have been issued similar orders, but they are not mandatory and many of those who defied the instructions have found themselves caught up in flash floods and landslides.

Japan's government said today that at least 48 people had been killed in days of record rains, but the toll was expected to rise further, with local media saying more than 60 people were dead and dozens more remained missing.

As Hiramoto inspected his ravaged home, it became clear that his decision to evacuate was the right one.

Most houses in his small rice-farming community stand on elevated ground above rice fields, but surging water swallowed fields and homes alike, including Hiramoto's.

The floodwaters were so powerful that they stripped layers from the walls, leaving the ground floor virtually unrecognisable. Hiramoto didn't bother to observe the Japanese custom of removing his shoes before entering his home, stepping over a muddle of debris piled outside the front door straight onto flooring caked in mud.

"I'm looking at losses worth 10 million yen ($90,500)," he said, still dressed in the mud-covered shorts he was wearing when he evacuated Friday night. "I don't even know where to start cleaning. I don't know what is where."