At least six people have been confirmed dead on Japan’s Noto Peninsula after floods struck an area still recovering from a major earthquake nine months ago.

Heavy rain pounded the area over the weekend, with more than 540 millimetres (21 inches) of rain recorded in the city of Wajima over 72 hours, the heaviest continuous rain since comparative data became available.

The region is still recovering from a magnitude-7.5 earthquake on January 1, which toppled buildings, triggered landslides and sparked a massive fire.

The Japan Times and public broadcaster NHK said six people had been killed – five in Wajima and one in nearby Suzu.

At least eight people were missing or unaccounted for, according to NHK, including a 14-year-old junior high schoolgirl.

Floodwater inundated emergency housing built for those who had lost their homes in the earthquake, which killed at least 374 people, according to the Ishikawa regional government. Some of the missing were workers on quake-related construction projects.

Some 4,000 households were without power on Monday as a result of the rain, according to the Hokuriku Electric Power Company.

More than 100 areas in the region were cut off after landslides blocked roads.

Akemi Yamashita, a 54-year-old Wajima resident, told the AFP news agency she was driving on Saturday when “within only 30 minutes or so, water gushed into the street and quickly rose to half the height of my car”.

“I was talking to other residents of Wajima yesterday, and they said, ‘It’s so heartbreaking to live in this city’. I got teary when I heard that,” she said, describing the earthquake and floods as “like something from a movie”.

Military personnel have been sent to the area to help rescue workers after tens of thousands of residents were urged to evacuate.

“This is heavy rain in the region that suffered massive damage by the Noto Peninsula earthquake. There must be many people who are very worried,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.

Heavy rain was also reported in the nearby northern prefectures of Niigata and Yamagata, threatening flooding and other damage and forcing the suspension of train services.