Typhoon Roke swept through central and westerrn Japan Tuesday night with 144 kph (90 mph) winds, leaving one person dead, two others missing, and more than a million residents fleeing their homes, Japan's weather agency said.

Roke has poured as much as 50 millimeters (2 inches) of rain per hour at times, was on track to hit Nagoya and western Honshu Wednesday afternoon.

"While keeping its strength, the typhoon could make a landfall on Wednesday," an official of the Japan Meteorological Agency said. "We ask that the highest level of caution be used because of the heavy rain, strong wind and high waves."

In Nagoya city, an estimated 1.09 million people have been told to evacuate because rivers may overflow their banks.

Jiji Press news agency reported that a 65-year old man died while attempting to fix a congested drain in Nagoya. In Gifu Prefecture, an 84-year-old man and a 9-year-old boy were believed to have been washed away by raging floods.

NHK TV reported an official evacuation advisory for 1.3 million people.

In southern and western regions, residential areas and local streets have been flooded, trains stopped and highways closed, AFP reported.

The weather agency said Wednesday morning that Typhoon Roke will pass over the northern Tohoku region, site of the March 11 earthquake, and the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on its way to the northern island of Hokkaido by Thursday afternoon.

Earlier this month, Typhoon Talas killed 100 people in Japan, mostly in the western part of the country