At least 29 people died, 35 were missing and more than 60 000 were evacuated after flash floods and landslides swept down mountainsides in two areas of south-central China, state media said on Wednesday.
Torrential rain brought floods and landslides that killed at least 17 people and left 35 missing in Hunan province from Monday to Wednesday, with rainfall of more than 200mm in some areas, the official Xinhua news agency said.
At least 12 people died in floods and landslides in the Guizhou region, which borders south-western Hunan, state radio said.
National flood-control authorities on Wednesday forecast more heavy rain and flooding this month, especially in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze river, an area that includes much of Hunan.
Local governments were ordered to ”intensify flood control and prevention efforts”, the agency said.
”Flood-control authorities must give priority to the safety of the people and their property,” it quoted Wang Shucheng, the Minister of Water Resources, as saying.
In Hunan’s Xinshao county, more than 60 000 people were evacuated from at least 12 villages.
”As the mountain torrents occurred at 3am on Wednesday when most villagers were sleeping, the casualties might rise,” the agency quoted a local government official as saying.
The floods and landslides cut road links to about 20 000 people in Hunan. Electricity and telecommunication lines were also damaged in many areas.
Summer floods and landslides killed 1 343 people last year, the lowest death toll for several years, according to government statistics. — Sapa-DPA