Fifty-five people are dead or missing from flash floods that ripped through south-western China’s Guizhou province early this week, the government said on Wednesday.
At least 25 people were confirmed dead from the flooding in mountainous areas of Guizhou, while another 30 people were missing, the state flood-control headquarters reported.
Nearly 1 300 homes had collapsed in Wangmo and Luodian counties after up to 211mm fell on the region late on Monday night in a four-hour downpour, the headquarters said.
Top provincial leaders had arrived in the region to direct rescue and search operations as the central government issued orders to send in more relief supplies and teams, it said.
The deaths come after at least 93 people were reported to have died over the previous two weeks in torrential rains that have battered southern China.
About 12-million had been affected by rains, floods and landslides, the China Daily newspaper reported on Saturday, quoting the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
About 560 000 people have been evacuated and economic losses in the region have been estimated at 7,66-billion yuan ($957,5-million dollars), it added. — AFP