China floods toll passes 1,000

Heavy rain hindered efforts by workers to repair reservoirs and place sandbags along breached riverbanks today as the death toll from China’s worst flooding in a decade climbed above 1,000.

Thousands of workers rushed to repair 51 small reservoirs that suffered damage and to fortify riverbanks along the Songhua River after floods triggered by torrential rain pounded north-eastern Jilin province, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.