Heavy rain, landslides hit China; 45 killed 21 missing

At least 45 people were killed and 21 others missing in heavy rains and landslides that hit southern China over the past week, officials said today.
Heavy downpour left 34 people dead and another 21 missing in south China, Ministry of Civil Affairs said.
Eleven people were killed and 19 others seriously injured after a landslide hit nine vehicles in southwest China's Sichuan Province, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The landslide hit a section of the Number 213 National Highway in Maoxian County.
About 3,000 cubic meters of dirt and stone hit a truck, seven cars and a pick-up truck.

The injured were admitted to a local hospital. Six seriously injured people were transferred to the Huaxi Hospital in Chengdu city.

Rescue and relief work is still under way, it said.
Severe rainfall and ensuing floods hit the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Anhui and the municipality of Chongqing since July 10, affecting more than 8.82 million people, the ministry said.
Ten people were killed in Guizhou and 10 others listed missing so far, while nine people died and 11 missing in Hunan, it said.
Fifteen others were killed in several other provinces.
The disaster has forced evacuation of 403,000 people in the south.

More than 63,000 houses have been destroyed and 44,900 hectares of crops are unharvestable in these areas, with direct economic losses reaching 5.21 billion yuan (USD 839.8 million), it said.
Meanwhile, typhoon Rammasun is expected to make landfall in south China's island province of Hainan or coastal area of Guangdong Province tomorrow, weather bureau said.
Rammasun, packing rainstorms and winds of up to 120 km per hour, is moving northwest at a speed of 20 to 25 km per hour and will probably land in Hainan or Guangdong with a maximum wind speed of more than 140 km per hour around Friday noon, according to the station's forecast.

China's National Marine Environmental Forecasting Centre today issued a red alert for high seas in the northern part of South China Sea, and along the coast of east Hainan and west Guangdong.