Baku, August 4, AZERTAC Officials in parts of Niigata and several other prefectures of Japan hit by torrential rain are urging residents to take action to immediately secure their safety, according to HNK-World Japan. A level 5 alert, the highest on Japan's disaster warning scale, was in effect for Tainai City and Sekikawa Village in Niigata Prefecture as of 11: 00 a.m. on Thursday.The Meteorological Agency has called on people in those areas to carefully monitor the current situation, and to do everything they can to protect their own lives.An evacuation order, a level 4 alert, has also been put in place for other parts of Niigata as well as Yamagata, Fukushima, Ishikawa and Fukui prefectures. That order affects over 200,000 people.