Death toll from mountain torrents in NW China's Gansu rises to 15

LANZHOU -- Mountain torrents in Yuzhong County, Northwest China's Gansu province, had killed 15 people and left 28 missing as of noon Monday, provincial emergency authorities said Tuesday.

Torrential rains that triggered the mountain torrents began hitting Yuzhong, which is under the jurisdiction of the provincial capital Lanzhou, as well as other areas of the capital city, on the evening of Aug 7, with precipitation reaching 220.2 millimeters by noon on Aug 8.

The provincial government has launched an investigation and assessment of the disaster situation in Yuzhong, according to a circular released Tuesday by the provincial emergency management department.

The publicity department of Lanzhou has said that plans regarding the resettlement of relocated residents and reconstruction of affected areas had been preliminarily made.

So far, more than 5,000 rescue personnel have been dispatched, and they have been divided into 15 search and rescue teams, tasked with conducting a thorough search for the missing people in 16 villages and a local reservoir.

A total of 49.2 kilometers of roads and 643,000 square meters of rivers and riverways have been searched.