A typhoon sweeping across Japan has left at least four dead and at least 10 people missing. Typhoon Etau blew through the country for four days, before sweeping off into the Pacific Ocean, drenching the northern island of Hokkaido yesterday.

More than 700 homes were flooded, with landslides, high winds and rain disrupting transport links.

The typhoon has now been downgraded to a temperate depression.Three of deaths were caused by drowning, after people were apparently blown into water by strong winds. One rice farmer drowned after falling into a raging river near his paddy in Okayama, in the west of the country.

A 77-year-old woman in Mie was blown off the terrace of her house and smashed her head on a concrete block in her garden. Police said that 77 people were injured by Etau, which brought 400mm of rain to parts of Hokkaido.

At its worst, Etau was blowing with winds of 145km/h, but by the time it moved out to sea yesterday, wind speeds had fallen to half that figure. Three people are missing in Hokkaido after their house was carried away in flood waters.