China increased the death toll caused by flash flooding in the northwestern province of Gansu last week as large parts of the country continued to battle the impact of heavy rainfall and swollen rivers.
On Sunday, the state news agency Xinhua said the death toll in Gansu’s Weiyuan county had risen from 10 to 25, adding that the flash floods which struck last Sunday had also injured a further 23 people.
The National Commission for Disaster Prevention, Reduction and Relief has asked the provincial government to investigate the incident and improve its emergency response measures, the report added.
Meanwhile, as heavy rainfall continued in many areas, the Ministry of Water Resources activated a level 4 emergency flood control response – the lowest level in a four-tier system – for the northeastern province of Heilongjiang on Saturday.
Level 4 flood alerts are also in place in many other parts of the country – from Gansu and Shaanxi in the northwest to Sichuan in the southwest, and in the central provinces of Henan and Hubei.
A total of 19 rivers in Heilongjiang have flooded, with some water levels exceeding warning thresholds by up to 1.3 metres (4.3 feet), Xinhua reported.