Six people have died following heavy rains that triggered floods and landslides on a Japanese peninsula still recovering from an earlier earthquake, local media reported on Monday.

Public broadcaster NHK and other outlets confirmed the deaths, while a fire department official told AFP that one person had died and five others were "in a state of cardio-respiratory arrest" — a term used in Japan before deaths are officially confirmed by a doctor.

Authorities in Ishikawa Prefecture, located on the Sea of Japan coast, reported that two people were missing, and the status of eight others remained unknown.

The region was hit with heavy rain starting Saturday, with the city of Wajima recording over 540mm of rainfall in 72 hours, marking the heaviest downpour since records began.

Ishikawa is still grappling with the aftermath of a 7.5-magnitude earthquake earlier this year that caused buildings to collapse, triggered tsunamis, and ignited a major fire. Floodwaters from the recent rains inundated emergency housing built for those displaced by the earthquake, which had claimed at least 374 lives according to official figures.

As of Monday, around 4,000 households were left without power due to the flooding, according to the Hokuriku Electric Power Company. More than 100 areas in the region were cut off as roads became impassable due to landslides.

Akemi Yamashita, a 54-year-old resident of Wajima, described the ordeal to AFP, recalling how, within just 30 minutes on Saturday, floodwaters rose to half the height of her car. "I was talking to other residents of Wajima yesterday, and they said, 'it's so heart-breaking to live in this city'. I got teary when I heard that," she said, comparing the earthquake and floods to "something from a movie."