15 people killed, 4 missing in Chongqing torrential rains

The heavy rainfall on Monday and Tuesday has left 15 dead and four missing in the Wanzhou district of southwest China's Chongqing, according to local authorities.

On early Wednesday, Wang Daoxi, vice-minister of water resources led a working team to Wanzhou, the largest district of Chongqing with 1.75 million people and the most severely flood-hit area, for control and rescue work.

Wanzhou Emergency Management Bureau reported that as of 10:00 am Wednesday, the rainfall caused disasters in 36 towns, villages and streets including Wuqiao, Changling, and Baiyang in Wanzhou. The affected population was 37,226, and 11,578 people were transferred for emergency avoidance, and 779 people were resettled.

The affected area of crops was a combined 1949.96 hectares, 50 houses collapsed and 112 houses were damaged. The region's direct economic loss was nearly 228 million yuan ($31.5 million).

Local government launched rescue work immediately after the disaster and will continue to strengthen emergency and disaster response to ensure the safety of people's lives and property.

On Tuesday afternoon, the China National Commission for Disaster Reduction and the Ministry of Emergency Management jointly activated a Level IV emergency response to floods in Chongqing due to the recent heavy rainfall.

The municipality had also upgraded the then Level IV flood-drought disaster control emergency response to Level III on the same day, as concerns rose over potential dangers to life and property.

According to the Chongqing hydrological monitoring station, from 7 am on Monday to 7 am on Tuesday, heavy rainfall appeared in most regions in the city.