Mudslide kills at least two in China as Khanun strikes north-east
12 August 2023, 07:14
Sixteen people are still missing after the mudslide in Xi’an.
A mudslide caused by torrential rains has killed at least two people on the outskirts of Xi’an in western China, an official news agency said, while some trains in the north-east were cancelled as a powerful storm lashed the region.
Rescuers are looking for 16 missing people following the mudslide on Friday evening in the village of Luanzhen, the Xinhua News Agency said. Roads, bridges and power supplies were damaged in the incident.
Parts of China suffer heavy rains and flooding every summer, but this year has been unusually severe in some areas, while other regions struggle with drought that is damaging crops.
Elsewhere, some train services in Shenyang, the biggest city in China’s north-east, and surrounding Liaoning province were suspended starting Saturday evening due to heavy rains caused by the remnants of Khanun, state TV reported.
Khanun pummelled parts of Japan as a typhoon before weakening over the Korean Peninsula on its way to China.
Some 23,000 people were evacuated from the north-eastern city of Shulan in Jilin province due to heavy rain, according to Xinhua. No deaths or injuries were immediately reported.
A total of 142 people nationwide were killed by flooding, landslides and mountain torrents in July, according to the ministry of emergency management.
The capital, Beijing, and neighbouring Hebei province last week suffered their heaviest rainfall in at least 140 years, according to the government.
On Friday, the Hebei government raised the death toll in floods this month caused by Typhoon Doksuri to at least 29.
The official death toll from floods in Beijing rose to 33 this week.
The government said it could take up to three years for power and other services to be completely restored.
