Heavy rains has battered western Japan, and more is forecast, as the death toll from landslides and flooding caused by a typhoon rises to nine.

Typhoon Megi, which has also buffeted South Korea, was pushing north and threatening to make landfall in northern Japan as early tomorrow, forecasters said.

Two people were reported missing in South Korea, where over 2,400 people were evacuated and flights were cancelled.

In Japan, the dead included an elderly couple on Shikoku island who died when their house was engulfed by a landslide.

Others were swept out to sea by floodwaters or drowned in irrigation ditches, officials said.

The latest confirmed fatality was a 45-year-old woman swept away while trying to evacuate her home. Television footage showed muddy water surging around a traditional wooden house.

Nearly 700 people were evacuated to safer areas.

About 165 primary school students spent an anxious night trapped without water or electricity at a nature centre after being cut off by heavy rains that triggered a landslide.

One girl was evacuated by helicopter after showing symptoms of appendicitis, NHK national television said

Typhoon Megi, which means 'catfish' in Korean, lashed the region with rain and high winds for the second day, with occasional gusts of up to 126 km per hour.

Some 205 mm of rain had fallen on some areas of Shikoku by 9am on Thursday and forecasters said another 200-250 mm was expected in the next 24 hours.

The storm was centred in the Sea of Japan some 200 km north northwest of Shimane prefecture and it was moving north east at around 55 km an hour.

It was expected to continue to move northeast throughout the day, with the area of heavy rainfall widening and the possibility of landfall in northern Japan as early as this morning.

Heavy rains were also expected to hit parts of northern Japan battered last month by floods that killed 15 people.-Reuters