A resident of the Magari-Buchi area, in Sanjo city, with a dust mask cleaning a sofa, in the background sand bags and damaged furniture, Niigata prefecture, Japan. After one week, torrential rains forced breaks in the banks of the swollen Igarashi River, flooding homes, businesses and agricultural fields. The floods in western Japan have so far caused the deaths of 18 people, more than 20,000 houses flooded in Niigata prefecture, 13,000 households ordered to evacuate. In one week more than 49 centimetres of rain had fallen in Niigata prefecture - nearly one-fifth of the annual average.