2010-07-21 06:42

GUANG'AN, Sichuan - Thirteen people are missing after a landslide struck a village in Southwest China's Sichuan province on Tuesday, local officials said.

Soldiers help local residents clean silt from a street of Mingyue town in Huaying city, Sichuan province, on Tuesday. Huaying has been hit by the most severe fl ood in 180 years as the local Qujiang River is swollen due to continuous rainstorms in its upper reaches. [Photo / China Daily]

Thirteen villagers were unaccounted for after the landslide hit Xujiaping village in Mianning county of Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture at around 5 am, the local emergency response office said.

The missing people are from three families whose houses were flattened in the landslide, the office said, adding that county rescuers equipped with heavy machinery were continuing to search the debris.

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Meanwhile in Guang'an, the easternmost city in Sichuan, the most severe flood to hit the city since 1847 began to recede since Tuesday afternoon.

"The water level is expected to be below the alert line by the wee hours of Wednesday and urban areas will be free of floodwater," said Li Junmin, deputy chief of the Guang'an district flood control office.

As a result of excessive rain in the upper reaches of the Qujiang River, the Guang'an section of the river witnessed a sharp rise in the water level on Sunday.

By 10 pm on Monday, the water level had surpassed 25.8 meters, 9 meters above the alert line, before starting to recede.

By 2 pm on Tuesday, the flood water had receded by 4.3 meters and the water level is expected to go below 16.8 meters by 3 am on Wednesday.

"It was the biggest flood in more than 160 years. Most parts of the city were inundated. In some areas, the water was more than 9 meters deep. But there are no reports of casualties," said Yuan Xianfeng, chief of the publicity department of the Guang'an city Party committee.

"When the provincial weather bureau said on Saturday that there would be excessive rain, the Guang'an city government had prepared to relocate people in low-lying areas," he told China Daily.

The government had evacuated 230,000 people and shifted them to their relatives' homes or the city's schools and government buildings or government-provided tents.

Long Hongkong, a farmer from Huba village, Hu'an town, who was moved into a tent, said: "The government has provided instant noodles and mineral water for all flood victims."

The flood, which inundated some 50 streets in the city, had affected 480,000 people, damaged 65,200 houses, 46 bridges and 212 electric power and communication facilities and destroyed 41 km of roads.

"The direct economic loss is registered at 4.6 billion yuan ($676 million)," Yuan said.

Since the water level started receding, the Guang'an city government organized some 2,600 people to remove silt brought about by the flood.

"Health workers are spraying disinfectants to prevent an outbreak of epidemics," Yuan said.

He said the government was planning to guide farmers to plant cash crops to mitigate their losses and remit taxes to businessmen affected by the flood.