TOKYO (Reuters) - Torrential&nbsp;rain&nbsp;over&nbsp;Japan's southwestern island of Kyushu triggered floods and landslides that left&nbsp;up&nbsp;to&nbsp;six&nbsp;people&nbsp;dead&nbsp;and rescuers searching for&nbsp;three&nbsp;missing, officials said on Tuesday.
The&nbsp;Japan&nbsp;Meteorological Agency downgraded the special warnings for&nbsp;heavy&nbsp;rains, issued on Monday for northern parts of the island, to lower-level warnings and advisories, but urged residents to stay alert for further landslides.
Japan&nbsp;is the latest country to be hit by unusually&nbsp;heavy&nbsp;rain&nbsp;in various parts of the world in recent days that has raised new fears of the pace of climate change.
"Municipalities are still making checks on casualties, ... but we were informed of&nbsp;three&nbsp;deaths, another&nbsp;three&nbsp;deaths potentially related to the disaster,&nbsp;three&nbsp;missing&nbsp;and two lightly injured," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a regular news conference.
The&nbsp;rain&nbsp;forced tire maker Bridgestone to suspend operations at four factories on Kyushu on Monday, but the plants resumed operation by Tuesday morning, a company spokesperson said.
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(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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Heavy rain in southern Japan leaves up to six dead, three missing