11 dead, two missing as torrential rains hit southwest China

11 dead, two missing as torrential rains hit southwest China

2011-06-24 02:10:26 GMT+7 (ICT)

SICHUAN, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- Chinese flood control authorities on Thursday announced that the latest torrential rains have left 11 people dead and two missing in southwest China, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

In Sichuan province, six people died and two others went missing due to the heavy rains that have struck the region since Monday as informed by the provincial Flood Control Office.

The Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters in Guizhou Province said that sixteen counties were affected by the rain that began falling on Wednesday night. As a result, five people were killed and about 7,200 residents evacuated.

Furthermore, more than 100 houses collapsed and an estimated 21,067 hectares of farmland were flooded causing direct economic losses of 65 million Yuan (about $10 million).

According to the local flood control authorities, most of the victims were killed as their homes were buried by rain-triggered landslides. As of Wednesday, the Chinese government has allocated 340 million Yuan ($52.5 million) for flood relief efforts.

In east China's Zhejiang Province, rain-triggered floods hit ten of the province's cities, affecting about 4.41 million residents over the weekend. This was the worst flooding in the region since 1955, collapsing 8,400 houses and killing two people.

Last week, tens of thousands of people in six provinces, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou, were affected by heavy rainfall. About 88,000 people were evacuated from these regions as rains destroyed around 1,320 houses.

Chinese provinces in the southern and eastern regions have been severely affected by torrential rains since June 3. At least 175 people have died, 86 went missing and about 1.6 million residents have been evacuated.

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