288 dead after heavy rains
2004-07-08 08:04
Beijing - Flooding and landslides set off by heavy summer rains have killed 288 people and destroyed thousands of homes over the past week in central and southern China, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
Hardest-hit was the mountainous southwestern province of Yunnan, where flooding in one county killed 13 people, the China Daily said. Four-one people were reported missing.
About 130 000 houses have been destroyed, the newspaper said, citing officials of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
China regularly suffers deadly summer flooding along its major rivers and in mountainous areas of its south and northwest.
The toll reported so far this season was comparable to previous years and far below the 4 150 fatalities reported in 1998, when China suffered its worst flooding in decades.
Deaths from flooding, mudslides, hail and lightning also were reported this week in the provinces of Hunan in central China and in the south in Guizhou province and the Guangxi region.
- AP