TOKYO (AP) -- Police officials say at least a dozen people are dead and 10 others reported missing after a typhoon slammed into Japan.

Hundreds of homes were flooded when Typhoon Etau (EE'-tow) hit the country's west coast with heavy rain triggering floods and landslides. Television images showed residents clearing mud with shovels.

Thousands of people were evacuated.

Japan's Meteorological Agency warned of heavy precipitation and landslides in eastern Japan as Etau heads north.