Death Toll at 31 From Flooding in Southwest China

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/13/world/asia/flooding-in-southwest-china.html

Version 0 of 1.

BEIJING — Five days of torrential rain in China’s southwest has killed 31 people and left more than 160 others missing, the state news media reported on Friday. Most of those affected are in a mountainous stretch of Sichuan Province that only recently recovered from the 2008 earthquake that left 87,000 people dead or missing.

The storms have inundated a memorial to earthquake victims in the city of Beichuan, washed away several bridges and forced the relocation of 220,000 people across the region, according to Xinhua, the state news agency. On Wednesday, it said more than 2,000 people had been rescued from inside a highway tunnel after they spent the night trapped by a landslide.

At least 18 others died after a road-soaked hillside gave way above a resort in the city of Dujiangyan, the authorities said, with 110 others were still missing. Meteorologists said 37 inches of rain had fallen there since Monday. Forecasts called for more rain next week.