Helicopters, boats and thousands of troops have been deployed across Japan to rescue people stranded in flooded homes on Sunday as the death toll from a ferocious typhoon hit 35.

The latest addition to the toll was a woman who accidentally fell to her death from about 40 metres as she was being placed inside a rescue helicopter in Iwaki city in Fukushima.

Typhoon Hagibis which was downgraded to a tropical storm on Sunday made landfall south of Tokyo on Saturday evening and battered central and northern Japan with torrents of rain and powerful gusts of wind.

More than 110,000 rescuers, including 31,000 troops worked through the night and into Monday searching for people trapped by the disaster.

Local media said at least 35 people had been killed, with the Kyodo news agency reporting nearly 20 people were missing. Government figures from Sunday night were lower, although updates were expected on Monday.

The government’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency on Sunday said 14 people have died, 11 were missing and 187 were injured as a result of the typhoon.

It said a total of 1,283 homes were flooded and 517 were partially or totally damaged.

The destruction forced the Rugby World Cup being hosted by Japan to cancel several games but the ‘Brave Blossoms’, as the Japanese Rugby team is called, lifted spirits with a stunning 28-21 victory over Scotland on Sunday, putting them into the quarter-finals of the tournament for the first time.