At least one person was killed and 15 others went missing in China's southwestern Sichuan province after severe rainstorms battered the region, including some quake-stricken areas leading to the collapse of a bridge, officials said.
The province has been hit by rainstorms since Monday. Rain-triggered flooding has left four people from quake-hit counties of Beichuan, Anxian and Qingchuan, missing.
In Qingchuan county, rain-triggered landslides have caused one death and affected the lives of 7,051 people. The cumulative precipitation in Qingchuan since Monday has reached 1,000 mm, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The government of quake-hit Shifang City said floods and landslides caused by rainstorms have left five people missing and one person severely injured. Three bridges have collapsed since Monday evening due to rain-triggered floods in the cities of Jiangyou and Deyang, the officials said.
So far five vehicles were confirmed to have fallen off the Panjiang Bridge into the river in Jiangyou City, according to officials. Three people were saved while six others remained missing. More than 2,000 people were dispatched to search for the missing downstream, they said.
Three major rivers in the province have been swollen, with water levels surpassing warning marks, the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said.
Heavy rain started to batter the city of Ya'an, which was shaken by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake in April, early on Monday morning, resulting in floods in three townships in the city's Yucheng District, according to the district government.
At least 16,900 people in 4,920 households in the district have been affected. Direct economic losses are estimated at 768 million yuan (USD 125.18 million). Local governments have relocated over 5,200 residents and tourists to get them out of the way of potential geological disasters.
Downpours also submerged quake-razed ruins in Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, which has received 300 mm of precipitation. More than 42,000 people in Beichuan have been affected by the downpours.
An 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit Beichuan in May 2008, leaving 20,000 people dead or missing. Communication and traffic in many townships of the quake-hit counties of Wenchuan, Beichuan, and Lushan were cut off yesterday.
Floods also caused a landslide in the village of Shilibei, as well as cutting telecommunications and access to roads in many townships in Beichuan. The Beichuan county government has relocated 2,019 residents as a precaution.
At Shuangliu International Airport in the provincial capital of Chengdu, 4,000 passengers have been stranded, as more than 23 inbound and outbound flights have been affected by the weather. The storm has also caused trains running on the Baoji-Chengdu Railway to be delayed or rerouted.
The Sichuan Provincial Meteorological Center has upgraded its orange rainstorm alert to red, with torrential rain and thunder expected in Chengdu, Ya'an and Deyang.
In neighboring Gansu Province, over one lakh people from 14 counties and districts have been affected by floods. Three villagers remain missing after falling into raging floodwater on Monday. Search and rescue efforts are under way.
