Nine people have been killed at an old people's home in Japan and more than 1,000 forced to flee their homes as a typhoon swept across the country.

Police found the nine bodies in the nursing home in the town of Iwaizumi on Wednesday but it is not known when the building was devastated by the storm.

It is also unclear why the people who lived there had not been taken to safety before Typhoon Lionrock struck.

The body of a man was found near a river in the town and a dead woman was found in Kuji city, officials said.

Television pictures showed flooded rivers with cars and homes partly submerged, as rescuers picked up stranded people by helicopter.

The worst-hit region of Iwate was devastated by a big earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.