Latest: ZHOUQU - The death toll from rain-triggered mudslides in Zhouqu County of Northwest China's Gansu province has risen to 137 as of 4:07 pm Monday, with 1,348 others still missing, said the provincial civil affairs department.
ZHOUQU, Gansu - A rain-triggered landslide hit Zhouqu county in Gansu province on Sunday morning, killing at least 127 people and leaving 1,294 others missing, the rescue headquarters said on Sunday.
At least 76 people were injured as of 4 pm on Sunday and rescuers were racing against time to dig out survivors from crushed homes, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.
Torrential rain began lashing the county at about 11 pm on Saturday and runoff from the downpour built up behind a landslide on the Bailong River, which runs through the county seat town.
The clogged river in the narrow valley spilled over its banks, triggering floods and mudslides that hit the town after midnight. The disaster smashed a small hydro station and left more than 100 people dead, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The landslide flattened an area 5 kilometers long and 500 meters wide. "Most of the 2,000 people living in the area failed to escape in time and were drawn into the mud," authorities from the Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture, which administers Zhouqu, said in a statement on its website.
At one point, the flood inundated about half of the county seat, which has about 40,000 residents. The floodwaters reportedly reached up to three stories high on some buildings.
Pu Junli, a military official who led rescue efforts, told China Central Television the sludge was "too massive, mostly as thick as one meter". China Daily
