Floods, landslides leave 35 dead, 39 missing in two areas of China

Aug 12, 2007, 10:19 GMT

Beijing - More floods and landslides have killed at least 35 people and left 39 missing in two areas of China over the last few days, state media said on Sunday.

At least 10 people died and two were missing after mud and rock engulfed the construction site of a hydroelectric power station in the south-western province of Sichuan at midnight on Friday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The landslide buried a group of workers as they were trying to flee the site in Sichuan's Shimian county, the agency quoted local officials as saying.

Three other workers escaped with injuries and some 150 soldiers were searching for the missing people, it said.

Torrential rain continued to affect at least 11 counties in Sichuan on Saturday morning, with up to 100 millimetres falling on some areas in just a few hours.

Meteorologists forecast more thunderstorms for many areas of Sichuan over the next few days, the agency said.

At least 25 more people died and 37 were missing in several parts of the north-western province of Shaanxi after four days of heavy rain last week, the provincial flood control office said.

One of the worst-hit areas was Shaanxi's Ankang city, where floods destroyed 9,600 homes and affected 420,000 people, the agency quoted flood control officials as saying.

Heavy rain in the eastern province of Shandong forced officials to discharge water from 12 reservoirs on Saturday, with water in 18 other reservoirs above the warning level, reports said.

Floods and landslides caused by torrential rain have killed about 1,000 people across China this summer, according to government and state media reports.

A total of 712 people died and 163 were reported missing in July alone, the government said.