Torrential rain in China leaves at least 20 dead: state media

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Vietnam floods leave 30 dead or missing
Floods and landslides in northern Vietnam have killed at least 30 people over the weekend, television reports said Sunday. Bac Kan province was the worst hit, with VTV reporting at least 13 dead. A total of at least six people died in Cao Bang, Ha Giang and Lai Chau provinces, state media reported. The national emergency services had earlier given a toll of at least eight dead and three missing, including six killed in a landslide in mountainous Bac Kan province. Pictures broadcast late Sunday by VTV showed many houses flooded to their roofs. The television report warned there was a "high" risk of a sudden rise in flood levels across several districts in the region. Heavy rains have been reported in northern Vietnam since late Friday, swelling local rivers and streams. The country is usually ravaged by typhoons, tropical storms and floods between July and November every year. In 2008, disasters triggered by bad weather claimed at least 550 lives according to the communist government's General Statistics Office.

Six killed in Bangladesh flash floods
A family of six were killed in northern Bangladesh on Saturday after heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods that destroyed their house and left tens of thousands stranded, police said. "The six were sleeping when the wall of their mud-built house collapsed in torrential rains early Saturday morning near the northeastern town of Habiganj," local police chief Mohammad Shajahan said. Police control rooms said heavy rains also triggered flash floods in some north and northeastern districts as rivers burst their banks, stranding tens of thousands who live in low-lying areas. Bangladesh suffers annual floods, with at least a fifth of the country submerged each year. The country is criss-crossed by a network of 230 rivers, most of them tributaries of the Ganges and Brahmaputra. The government's Flood Forecasting and Warning Center said 46 out of 73 rivers it monitors daily had recorded a sharp rise in water levels, inundating a vast swathe of land in the northern region. The situation is likely to deteriorate in the next few days, as heavy rains are expected in the region. In 2007, flooding killed more than 1,000 people and some 40 percent of the country was under water, forcing millions to flee their homes.

by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) July 6, 2009
At least 20 people have died and more than 670,000 had to be evacuated in China after torrential rain and floods destroyed houses, damaged roads and caused rivers to overflow, state media said Sunday.

The fatalities occurred over several days of relentless heavy rain in the centre and south of the country, also leaving another five people missing, according to Xinhua news agency.

In Hunan province, eight people died and 140,000 were forced out of their homes, Xinhua said, quoting the provincial flood control office.

Water levels of some rivers in the southern Guangxi region were the highest since 1998, when downpours led to the worst flooding in over 100 years and resulted in more than 3,600 deaths nationwide, China Central Television said Saturday.

More than 285,000 people had been relocated in Guangxi alone in the last week, with 300 pupils trapped in one boarding school, Xinhua reported.

The heavy downpours also inundated crops and cut power across several provinces.

South and central China are prone to major flooding during the annual summer rainy season.

According to a report issued Wednesday by the state flood headquarters, 95 people have been killed and 21 people went missing in flooding throughout China in the first six months of the year.

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SHAKE AND BLOW

More Czech floods kill one, cause 380 evacuations: police
Prague (AFP) June 28, 2009
One man was killed and some 380 people were forced to flee their homes overnight as more flooding swept through the Czech Republic, police said Sunday. Firefighters overnight evacuated several villages and two holiday resorts near Strakonice and Prachatice in the southwest, which has been hit with heavy rainfall. The one fatality was a 47-year-old man whose body was found late Saturday ... read more

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