China floods kills 107

RESCUERS battled to reach thousands of people trapped by floods and mudslides in southwest China as the death toll from some of the worst storms in years rose to 107 with another 88 missing.

“We now have at least 72 dead in Sichuan province.

“Among them 46 are in Dazhou city. Fifty people are still missing throughout Sichuan,” an official said.

Dazhou, in the northeast of the province, has been worst hit by the torrential rains that have triggered widespread landslides and flooding, stranding thousands of people.

Neighbouring Chongqing municipality has also been pummelled by the weather.

A Chongqing official said yesterday’s tally was 34 dead, 33 missing and 243 people injured.

The floods unleashed by unrelenting rains prompted authorities to put the massive Three Gorges Dam project on alert and close it to shipping for the first time since it began operation in July.

The dam is in Hubei province, to the east of Sichuan and Chongqing, and water flow has surged over warning levels after the upper reaches of the Yangtze River started flooding.