HEAVY RAIN continued to bring mudslides and flooding to China yesterday, as a landslide swept through a mountain town in the southwest, leaving at least 67 people missing and cutting off access to the area.
Roads, power and telecommunications were severed when the landslide ripped its way through Puladi township in Yunnan province, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Rescue workers have been sent to the township, which is in the mountains bordering Burma. Xinhua said 25 people were hurt in the landslide, nine seriously.
A spokesman for the township said most of the missing were employees of the Yujin iron mine, and local villagers.
In June, in the same township, a mudslide killed 11 people at the construction site of a hydropower station.
The mudslides also destroyed a bridge and blocked parts of the Nujiang River flowing through the mountains, lifting the water level in the upper reaches by up to 6m.
The mudslides were spread about 300m across, and at least 10 trucks and 21 houses were buried. Tents and clothing have been sent to the area but it is not clear when the rescuers and the aid items would get there.
TV footage showed dramatic scenes from the flooded areas of people being washed away by the deluge, which was incredibly powerful and fast moving. In one scene a TV reporter was swept away in Sichuan province, while among those in difficulties were the rescuers themselves.
The summer months have seen weather-related disasters dominate the headlines in China. Mudslides and floods have killed at least 1,500 people around the country in the last few months, making this the worst summer in decades. Whole towns and villages have been washed away by landslides and the storms have caused tens of billions of euros in damage.
The worst of the recent landslides were in Zhouqu county in the western province of Gansu, where at least 1,287 people were killed as a mudslide crashed through the city earlier this month. The government says another 457 people are still missing from that disaster.
Vice-premier Hui Liangyu urged authorities to focus on resettling survivors of the Zhouqu disaster. He said more shelter and medical services were needed, and that schools should resume classes when the new school year starts in a couple of weeks.