China flood toll rises to nearly 500 dead or missing

Beijing (dpa) - Dozens more people were reported dead or missing in southwestern and other areas of China on Tuesday, as floods and landslides continued to wreak havoc.
The latest weather-related disasters brought the casualty toll in summer floods and landslides to nearly 500 dead or missing by Tuesday, state television said.

At least 12 people died and one was reported missing after heavy rain caused flash floods and landslides in mountainous areas around Nanning city in the Guangxi region, China News Service said.

In the neighbouring province of Yunnan, at least eight people died and 16 were reported missing in floods and landslides in two separate areas close to the border with Myanmar (Burma), other state media said.

State television said 381 people were reported dead and 98 missing in floods and landslides this summer.

About 75 per cent of the victims were buried by landslides or washed away in flash floods in mountainous areas of China, the broadcast said.

It said summer floods and landslides had affected some 46 million people nationwide and caused estimated direct economic losses of 14.85 billion yuan (1.80 billion dollars).

As heavy rain continued to swell major rivers in central China, at least two people died and more than 100,000 were evacuated from several areas of Hunan province.

Flooding on farmland and damage to property and infrastructure had already affected some 2.7 million people in Hunan over the last few days, the official Xinhua news agency said.

At least one person died and one was missing in the southwestern Guizhou province, which lies between Yunnan and Guangxi, and another four died in a flood in the northwestern province of Gansu.

Officials deployed hundreds of thousands of workers and troops to shore up embankments and evacuate vulnerable people in many areas of central China.

On Monday, President Hu Jintao ordered flood control officials to ''make full preparations'' for the possibility of more serious floods in late July and August, traditionally the time of the worst floods in China.

Emergency workers evacuated some 150,000 people in the central province of Henan earlier this week, with state television carrying images of some of the flood victims camped out in crude tents along main roads.

Hundreds of villages were cut off by floods in Henan and neighbouring central provinces, with more rain forecast this week and next week. dpa bs eu