Five Killed, Eight Missing As Result of Torrential Rains in Northwestern China

Five people were killed, while eight others were still missing, as a result of torrential rains and landslides in Shaanxi Province, northwest China. Local authorities in China said Friday that heavy rains fell on Baoji city, with a population of about 3.2 million people, located about a thousand kilometers southwest of Beijing, since last Tuesday morning, and it witnessed a record rate of daily rainfall since the beginning of meteorological records. The local authorities added that the heavy rains caused mountain torrents, in addition to damage to the road network in the region, noting that 7,848 people were transferred to other places. The level of rain falling at the beginning of the week amounted to the equivalent of a full year of rain, said the local authorities. The China Meteorological Authority issued warnings of rainstorms and floods expected to hit the northern and central parts of the country during this period. Source: Qatar News Agency