Floods kill 17 in China

Heavy rains this week in northern China have triggered flooding that has killed 17 people and left another 33 missing, the official Xinhua News Agency said today.

The storms hit Ankang, a city in Shaanxi province on Monday and Tuesday and caused water levels in seven rivers to rise, Xinhua said.

Landslides and mud-rock flows also destroyed crops and farmland, it said.

Summer is China’s peak rainy season and so far, more than 700 people have been killed by floods, lightning and landslides this year.