Deadly floods

Authorities in southwestern China’s Sichuan province say at least 12 people have died and 10 are missing following heavy rains, adding to a grow toll from summer flooding across the country. Sichuan’s Mianning county was battered by storms, with flooding especially bad in Yihai township, the county government reported yesterday. Two vehicles plunged into a river along a flooddamaged highway, and 7705 people were evacuated. The area lies on a plain at the foot of steep hills that eventually rise to the Tibetan Plateau, the source of China’s major rivers. Nationally, flooding since the start of June has left 78 people dead or missing, destroyed or damaged more than 100,000 homes and caused direct economic losses estimated at more than 25 billion yuan ($3.5 billion), the Ministry of Emergency Management said.