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One of those killed was a 77-year-old woman who fell 40 meters (131 feet) during a helicopter rescue operation in Iwaki City, Fukushima prefecture, on Sunday morning, Tokyo Fire Department press officer Yuji Kikuchi said.
Rescuers had failed to properly attach a hook to the harness as the woman was being pulled onto the helicopter. "We apologize from the bottom of our heart," Hirofumi Shimizu, the deputy chief of Tokyo Fire Department, said in a press conference on Sunday. "We will try our best not to have this happen again and to recover trust to us."
Typhoon-hit regions are bracing for more rain on Monday which could exacerbate flooding, prompting authorities to caution people to stay away from rivers and mountain slopes.
Video released by authorities and shared online showed the extent of the devastation in Japan.
One clip shows a helicopter hovering over a house surrounded by murky water as rescuers pull a person to safety in Fukushima prefecture. Another shows people being rescued on an inflatable raft which appears to be floating on a water-logged street.
A separate clip taken on Sunday shows debris floating down a swollen river in Saku city, in Nagano prefecture.
Fukushima material
Following a March 2011 earthquake, three reactors at the Fukushima plant melted down, releasing radioactive materials into the air and prompting more than 100,000 people to be evacuated from the area.
A total of 2,667 large, thick plastic bags containing contaminated materials from the disaster were being stored at a temporary storage site in Tamura while authorities looked for a more permanent location.
Each bag weighs upwards of several 100 kilograms (220 pounds) according to NHK.
On Saturday, local public works contractors found six of the bags drifting in a river. Another four were found by government officials.
On Monday, Fukushima prefecture decontamination spokesperson Akira Suzuki could not say whether more bags had washed away over the weekend.
"We are confirming how many are gone as well as searching for any other bags washed away," Suzuki said.
Shoji Watanabe, the head of nuclear disaster measurement office, said the radiation levels of the material in the bags had decreased over time. However, he refused to say that the bags were entirely safe.
Fukushima prefecture disaster management spokesperson Shunji Miura said the typhoon had no significant impact on the nuclear plant.
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Record rains and windstorms
Although typhoons are not uncommon in Japan, Typhoon Hagibis -- meaning speed in the Philippine language of Tagalog -- was particularly brutal. According to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's office, the typhoon brought "record-setting heavy rains and windstorms."
Those led to widespread transport disruptions over the weekend, with flights, bullet trains and other transport canceled across Honshu, Japan's main island.
The storm weakened to a tropical depression Sunday. All bullet train lines were back in service as of Monday, except one service to Nagano -- about a third of its trains were submerged.