6 dead in China as rain triggers landslides, house collapse

BEIJING (AP) — Heavy rain in China has claimed six lives this week and forced the evacuation of some 200,000 people.

Five people died in southeastern China, according to state media reports: A house collapse took three lives in Fujian province on Tuesday, and two died Monday in a landslide caused by torrential rain in neighboring Jiangxi province.

One person died and three are missing in northern China after a vehicle fell into the water in mountain flooding from heavy rain in the Inner Mongolia region.

China regularly experiences seasonal rains and flooding during the summer, most frequently in central and southern areas.

Video on state broadcaster CCTV showed large parts of cities flooded in muddy waters. Rescue workers carried trapped people out of buildings on their backs in waist-deep water in Guangdong province, also in the southeast.

The rain ended Wednesday in Jiangxi, but more precipitation is forecast for another week in Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong and the nearby Guangxi region. The National Meteorological Center said residents should prepare for floods and landslides as the soil is already saturated in those areas.

More than 110,000 people have been relocated in Jiangxi province, along with more than 80,000 in Fujian, state media reports said.

Seventeen people died last week in rain-related disasters in Guangxi and in Hunan province in central China.