2010-07-19 15:46

CHENGDU - Floods and landslides triggered by continuous rainstorms have left at least 34 people dead and 87 missing in west China's Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, local authorities said Monday.

In Sichuan, 26 people were dead and 30 missing, a spokesman with the Sichuan Provincial Water Resources Department said.

Almost 9 million people were affected and 800,000 were evacuated, the spokesman said.

Direct economic losses were estimated at about 5 billion yuan (US$735 million), he said.

In Ankang, Shaanxi, flash floods and landslides on Sunday had killed eight people and left 57 missing, a municipal government spokesman said.

In the mountainous county of Langao in Ankang, about 20 people are missing after landslides and mud-rock flows struck several villages late Sunday, the spokesman said.

About 650,000 people were affected and 100,000 were evacuated from low-lying areas, he said.

Floods also flattened houses, destroyed crops and damaged transport, power and telecommunications facilities, he added.

Continuous rain has battered many Chinese provinces and regions over the past week. The country is also preparing for the worst Yangtze flood in more than a decade as the water levels in the upper and middle sections of China's longest waterway keep rising.

More than 70 firefi ghters in Leshan city of Sichuan province evacuate more than 1,000 farmers trapped by floods on Sunday. Continuous rainstorms inundated four villages in Jianong town of Leshan’s Shawan district on Sunday. [China News Service]