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At least 10 people died in a flash flood in Inner Mongolia, China, with two missing. Over 700 people are searching. Severe weather has caused significant damage across China.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers search for missing people at a village hit by mountain torrents following heavy downpour, in Yuzhong County of northwest China’s Gansu Province. (AP)
At least 10 people died in a flash flood in northern China, state media reported on Sunday, with two others still missing, as the East Asian monsoon continues to unleash atmospheric chaos across the world’s second-largest economy.
The banks of a river in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia gave way around 10 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Saturday, sweeping away 13 campers on the outskirts of Bayannur, a key agricultural hub, according to the report.
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According to state news agency Xinhua, a search and rescue operation involving more than 700 people is underway. One person has been rescued.
China has suffered weeks of extreme weather since July, battered by heavier-than-usual downpours with the monsoon stalling over its north and south.
Meteorologists attribute the shifting weather patterns to climate change, straining officials as flash floods displace thousands and put billions of dollars in economic losses at risk. Bayannur is an important national grain and oil production base, as well as a sheep breeding and processing centre.
In southern Hainan province, a three-and-a-half-month fishing ban ended on Saturday, state media reported, after agricultural authorities had earlier ordered vessels to remain in port due to prolonged heavy rainfall.
Severe weather on Friday killed two people and injured three others in the southwestern province of Sichuan, at a beer festival in the city of Mianzhu, after a truss fell on them, according to a local police report on Saturday.
The flooding in Inner Mongolia comes after torrential rains in Beijing, about 1,000 km (621 miles) away, late last month that killed at least 44 people and forced over 70,000 residents to evacuate.
The central government announced last week 430 million yuan ($59.9 million) in fresh funding for disaster relief, taking the total allocated since April to at least 5.8 billion yuan.
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