Mountain floods and mudslides caused by heavy rainfall ravaged Xi’an in Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province on Friday evening, claiming four lives, The Global Times reported, adding that 14 more were reported missing.
Although heavy rains lashed the province for a short duration, mountain floods and mudslides struck a village in Xi’an around 6 pm on Friday, the report stated.
Further, according to The Global Times, two houses in the village were washed away while nearby roads, bridges, power supplies and other infrastructure were damaged, partially cutting off locals from the outside world.
Rescue operations were ongoing as of Sunday morning, the report stated, adding that the Xi’an detachment of the armed police force in Shaanxi deployed more than 100 personnel to the affected area.
Rescue workers shifted 81 residents and 11 vehicles to safe locations on Sunday morning. They were also leading the search for the missing persons and recovery of the mortal remains of those dead, the report noted, adding that emergency rescue workers were also scanning a 65km-area along a nearby river.
A local villager told The Global Times that flooding and mudslides took place barely one or two hours after heavy rains lashed the area on Friday afternoon.
Two of the buildings that were swept away by floods and mudslides, which followed the heavy rainfall, were agritourism centres, the report stated.
It added, however, that there was no official confirmation of whether there were tourists at these centres when they were hit by floods and landslides.
Further, the local fire department, police and emergency management authorities were coordinating the ongoing rescue operations, according to The Global Times report.
The Ministry of Emergency Management sent a working group to the disaster site to aid the ongoing rescue and relief operations, the report stated further, adding that a local fire and rescue team, comprising 207 personnel, were mobilised to the scene for rescue work.
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