Mudslides kill 14 in southwest China, 11 missing

In this Saturday, July 19, 2014, photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a vehicle sits under a collapsed building after landfall of typhoon Rammasun in Haikou, capital of south China’s Hainan Province. Fourteen people were killed and 11 others still missing after mudslides swept through two villages in southwest China on Monday, July 21, following days of heavy rain, state news agency Xinhua reported. AP

HONG KONG–Fourteen people were killed and 11 others still missing after mudslides swept through two villages in southwest China on Monday following days of heavy rain, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Rescuers were working to retrieve people still buried after mudslides struck the villages in Yunnan province, the news agency said, citing local government.

Heavy downpours battering the mountainous province in recent days have caused several landslides that have crushed houses, blocked roads and disrupted power supplies.

More than 1,100 rescuers were stranded trying to reach the village of Huna in Dehong, western Yunnan, where a mudslide early Monday killed 10 people, Xinhua reported.

“Victims are badly in need of relief supplies including tents and waterproof clothing,” it cited local authorities as saying at a disaster relief meeting.

Tents, bags of rice and generators have been sent to the area, it said.

Disasters sparked by this year’s flooding season have left more than 140 people dead or missing across Yunnan, the provincial meteorological bureau was cited by the agency as saying.

Xinhua Monday said 38 people were either dead or missing after Typhoon Rammasun–the strongest storm to hit China in decades–battered Guangxi province and Hainan island packing winds exceeding 200 kilometers (124 miles) an hour.