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Death toll soars as heavy rains continue to hammer China

The death toll from torrential rains in parts of China rose to 71 yesterday with another 58 missing as emergency relief supplies were rushed to help more than 200,000 people forced from their homes.

Heavy downpours and fast-moving mountain torrents have plagued the provinces of Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou since Monday, destroying 67,000 houses and killing 30,000 head of livestock, the latest figures show.

Vast tracts of farmland have be ruined.

Hunan Province is the worst affected, with 49 people dead and 42 missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on its Web site.

An estimated 203,000 people have been evacuated in Hunan alone, with telecommunications, transportation and water supplies out of action.

Officials said that they had dispatched rice, clean water and other relief materials to the area while the ministry of health issued an urgent circular calling for immediate preventive measures to stem outbreaks of disease.

Fang Zhiyong, an official at the ministry, said the weather was improving but it was proving difficult collecting information.

"The rain has now stopped in Hunan but in some places transportation and communications are still not working," he said.

"The death toll may well have gone up but we haven't been able to calculate it because we can't reach people," he said.

Casualties have also been reported in Sichuan and Guizhou, and while not as badly hit, hundreds of thousands of people are affected, the ministry said. It said that in Sichuan five people have died and 11 are missing. In Guizhou, 17 are dead, five missing and 140 people injured.

Reports of injuries from elsewhere were not given.
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