TOKYO, Aug. 27 (Jiji Press) -- The Japan Meteorological Agency issued Level 5 emergency heavy rain warnings to some municipalities in the central prefectures of Toyama and Ishikawa on Thursday morning.

Torrential rain started pummeling the Noto Peninsula area in central Japan early Thursday. The emergency warnings, issued at 6:20 a.m., cover the city of Himi in Toyama, and the city of Hakui and the towns of Shika, Hodatsushimizu and Nakanoto in Ishikawa.

Level 5 is the highest on the agency's disaster alert scale. Linear precipitation zones developed intermittently in the two neighboring prefectures facing the Sea of Japan.

The five municipalities issued the highest Level 5 emergency evacuation information, urging residents to immediately take measures to protect their lives.

A high level of caution is required for flooding of roads and low-lying areas, overflowing of rivers and landslides, according to authorities.

Both the Toyama and Ishikawa prefectural governments set up disaster response headquarters and are working to assess damage from the heavy rain.

Three rivers in Toyama overflowed, while power outages hit some 1,700 households in Himi. Inundation of houses or isolation of communities were confirmed in three Ishikawa municipalities.

Rain clouds developed more than expected as warm humid air from the south flowed into a front stretching over the northern part of the Noto Peninsula from around a high-pressure system on the Pacific side, Takuya Hosomi, director of the meteorological agency's forecast division, said at a press conference.

"It is necessary to ensure safety as disasters are highly likely to have occurred already," he added.

Kazuhito Shimamoto, director of the land ministry's River Environment Division, warned people not to enter flooded areas, referring to people who died in flooded vehicles during torrential rain that struck Chiba Prefecture, eastern Japan, on Aug. 13.

Rainfall in the 24 hours until 10:20 a.m. Thursday reached 327.5 millimeters in Himi, 322.0 millimeters in Hakui and 240.0 millimeters in Hodatsushimizu, all hitting record highs.

In the 24 hours until 6 a.m. Friday, rainfall is forecast to total up to 200 millimeters in Toyama and Ishikawa, up to 150 millimeters in Niigata Prefecture, next to Toyama, and up to 90 millimeters in Fukui Prefecture, an Ishikawa neighbor.