Dozens dead as floods, typhoon ravage China

BEIJING - Dozens of people have been killed and millions affected in China as floods ravaged the country's northeast and typhoon lashed southern provinces over the past few days.

Northeast China has been hit by the worst flooding in decades this summer.

In Jilin Province, floods hit a residential compound in Hongshi Township, Huadian, around 4:00 a.m. on Friday, leaving 14 dead.

About 200 residents from some 70 families have been relocated from their submerged community.

The provincial civil affairs department said 890,000 people have been affected by the flooding since Wednesday, and 35,000 houses were destroyed or damaged with direct economic losses at 2.4 billion yuan ($387 million).

In neighboring Heilongjiang Province, 11 flood-related deaths were reported on Friday and three people remain missing since the floods began on August 10, bringing water levels in three major rivers in the province to dangerous levels.

Nearly 2 million people in Heilongjiang have been affected, with 140,000 being relocated, according to the provincial civil affairs department.

The floods have destroyed over 2,500 houses and severely damaged at least 12,500 others in the province, with direct economic losses estimated at 7.13 billion yuan.

In Liaoning Province to the south of Jilin, more than 140 reservoirs  discharged water after rain from Thursday to Saturday raised levels above warning lines.

Railways and highways were cut off and bridges damaged by the floods in Fushun City where rainfall was the heaviest.

The National Commission for Disaster Reduction and the Ministry of Civil Affairs have sent work teams and relief supplies to the areas, according to a ministry statement.

While the northeast regions are battling the flooding, southern Guangdong Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region are fighting with a devastating typhoon, which has left at least 10 people dead and four others missing.

Typhoon Utor, the 11th and the strongest this year, made landfall Wednesday near Yangjiang, Guangdong, after it crossed the Philippines earlier this week, killing at least seven people and leaving four missing.

Four people were killed and four others went missing in the province due to downpours and floods triggered by the typhoon, which also affected more than 1 million people there, local flood control authorities said.

The typhoon also led to delay or suspension of numerous trains to and from Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong, where thousands of passengers were stranded.

The typhoon moved into Guangxi Wednesday night, bringing downpours and floods that left six people dead and more than 650,000 others affected in eight cities, local authorities said.

Also in Guangxi, six tourists went missing near a scenic spot in Lipu County, local authorities said, noting that their search and rescue efforts were hampered by downpours.

In central China's Hunan Province, landslides triggered by continous rainfalls over the past two days have left one dead and 14 others buried or missing.

The landslides that occured in several places in Lanshan County trapping more than 10 people, sources with the county's flood control office said.