Record rainfall has triggered floods, landslides and mud flows that have killed 152 people in China and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands, state media said yesterday. Since the start of the annual rainy season in June, floods have hit nearly half of China's regions and killed with at least 400 people, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The deaths this week occurred in eastern China's Shandong province, the southern Yunnan region, the southwestern city of Chongqing and the far western region of Xinjiang. The rain-battered areas also suffered severe damage to infrastructure, transportation and telecommunications, Xinhua said.
(The Independent, 23/07/2007)