Rains spawn deadly floods, mudslide

At least nine people in Liaoning province, five in Hubei province and one in Yunnan province were confirmed dead in floods and mudslides triggered by rainstorms on Monday.

Rescuers save a child trapped by floods in Benxi, Liaoning province, on Monday. Li Longjiang/for China Daily

Six in Xiuyan county and three in Haicheng city were found dead, and four others remain missing after Typhoon Damrey swept through Northeast China's Liaoning during the weekend, flood control authorities said.

Floods trapped 201 construction workers in a tunnel of a high-speed railway in the province's Benxi about 9:40 am on Monday, said Ban Yue, a publicity official for the city's government.

The flood destroyed a bridge and blocked the workers' escape route, he said.

Benxi rescue crews managed to transfer all of the workers to safety within four hours, said Zhang Jingqi, a firefighter.

When China Daily reporters arrived at the scene, two dark-colored rivers were flowing quickly through the tunnel, and a temporary bridge was severely damaged.

Most of the construction workers returned to their tents after being rescued, while several others carried on with the construction work in safe areas.

"I never expected that they could be rescued within such a short time," said a Benxi resident named Zhang. "I thought it would take at least a day to transfer so many people."

The typhoon cut off electricity, paralyzed road traffic and damaged drinking water facilities in Xiuyan, leaving more than 110,000 people homeless.

Floods triggered by rainstorms in Dalian, Liaoning, retreated on Sunday night, as many residents in Chengzitan township tried to dry their clothes in the sun on Monday.

In Southwest China's Yunnan, a 92-year-old woman was found dead and a 82-year-old woman was missing in Eryuan county of the Dali Bai autonomous prefecture, where a mudslide occurred on Monday morning.

Forty villagers were injured by the mudslide and all were sent to hospital for treatment, Zhou Hongbing, a publicity official for Eryuan, said on Monday.

The mudslide initially trapped more than 200 people in the mountainous Fengyu and Liantie townships. The rescuers managed to save more than 80 as of Monday afternoon and authorities are still working to free the remaining trapped people, Zhou said.

Li Xiangyang, a resident of Fengyu, said that the rainy weather had lasted for nearly half a month.

"A loud noise from the valley behind my house woke me and my two children this morning," he said. "Mud poured down before I know what was happening."

The mudslide caused economic losses of more than 98 million yuan ($15 million) in Eryuan, with 193 hectares of farmland destroyed, 81 houses collapsed, 488 heads of livestock killed, 17 roads and eight bridges destroyed, and three power plants damaged, according to the county government.

As of 2 pm on Monday, at least five people had been confirmed dead and one remained missing due to heavy rain in Shiyan and Xiangyang in Central China's Hubei province, according to the provincial flood control headquarters.

More than 1,200 people were trapped by flood in Gucheng county of Xiangyang, said Xiao Haifeng, a firefighter.

Rescuers managed to transfer more than 830 people to safety and rescued 324 people from places surrounded by deep water by Monday afternoon.

The heavy rain collapsed 178 houses and destroyed 409 hectares of crops, the Xiangyang government said on Monday.

Zhang Xiaomin in Dalian contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn and wuyong@chinadaily.com.cn