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July 22, 2012

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13 killed in storms, with rain forecast to continue

STORMS that lashed large swathes of northern and southwestern China from Friday night through yesterday have killed at least 13 people, authorities said.

And heavy rains are forecast to continue in China's northern regions and some southern parts over the next three days.

In Beijing, rainstorms and gales that started around 10am yesterday have left at least three people dead and six others injured, police and medical workers said.

Roofs at a construction site in the city's suburban Tongzhou District were blown off by strong winds, crushing five people, sources with the Beijing Emergency Medical Center said. Two people died on the spot, while three were taken to a nearby hospital.

A third person in Tongzhou was also killed when struck by lightning.

In another village in Tongzhou, strong winds blew off roofs, leaving three people injured, sources with the medical center said.

Some 243 flights were cancelled and 272 others delayed for more than an hour as of 6:30pm last night, sources with the Beijing Capital International Airport said.

And a stretch of National Highway 109 was cut off by a rain-triggered landslide in the Mentougou District, said the Beijing flood control and drought relief office.

Rainstorm alert

Beijing received on average 95 millimeters of rain by 7pm yesterday, according to the Beijing Meteorological Bureau. It was the heaviest rainstorm to hit the capital city in 60 years.

The agency issued its first orange - the second highest - rainstorm alert warning since 2005 yesterday evening, as the rain is forecast to continue into tonight.

In northern Shanxi Province, four people were killed with one missing yesterday, after the pickup truck in which they were traveling was carried into the middle of a rain-swollen river in the city of Shuozhou. It had been attempting to cross the river, rescuers said.

In southwestern Sichuan Province, six people were killed in rain-triggered landslides in Weiyuan County, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

And more than 400 vehicles are stranded following rain-triggered mudslides that cut off sections of National Highway 314 in the Kirgiz autonomous prefecture of Kizilsu, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, police said yesterday.

Heavy rains will sweep China's northern regions and some southern areas over the next three days, the National Meteorological Center forecast yesterday.

Most parts of north China, the Sichuan Basin and the central and southern part of south China will see heavy rains until tomorrow, it said.




 

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