36 dead, 23 missing in heavy rains in NW China
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Torrential rains in Longnan City in northwest China's Gansu Province had left 36 people dead and 23 more missing by Monday afternoon, provincial authorities said Tuesday in a statement.
As of 4 p.m. Monday afternoon, secondary disasters triggered by the downpours, including mudslides and landslides, had injured 295 people, the Gansu Provincial Government added in the statement.
The rains prompted the evacuation of 122,835 people to emergency shelters, the statement said.
They caused direct economic losses totaling 3.116 billion yuan (about 458 million U.S. dollars) and destroyed 30,000 hectares of grain crops.
They also caused 6,090 houses to collapse and damaged another 15,223.
More than 1,000 workers repaired utilities in the city and power supply on trunk lines have resumed.
But mobile phone services in worst-hit Huangzhu Township are only partly restored, the statement said.
The province's civil affairs department dispatched supplies, including 3,000 candles, 4,000 flashlights and 10 tonnes of flour, to the affected areas.
Some seriously injured victims were being transferred to hospitals in Lanzhou, said the statement.
According to a separate Gansu local government statement released Tuesday morning, relief funds worth 3.8 million yuan have been earmarked for the victims of the torrential rains in Tianshui City.
More than 4,500 boxes of instant noodles and 1,000 boxes of purified water, together with 420 tents and 2,500 plastic boards, were delivered to the cities of Tianshui and Longnan.
Meanwhile, in mudslide-hit Zhouqu County of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which is also in Gansu Province, rescue workers have been racing to restore water, communications and power supplies.
Local government sources told Xinhua Tuesday local residents' demand for water is being met by emergency water supplies.
Mobile phone networks run by China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom have resumed operation but landline-telephone services remain cut in most parts of the town.
Local health authorities had received no reports of outbreaks of infectious disease, the sources added.
By 6 p.m. Monday, the massive mudslide had killed 1,254 people and left 490 missing while 66 had been hospitalized and nearly 1,600 had received outpatient treatment. Also by Monday evening, rescuers had saved 1,243 people alive.
