Death toll in China floods rises to 72

At least 72 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands were forced to evacuate in the past few days due to devastating floods in north and south China.

Nine people were killed overnight in the floods triggered by continuous downpours in south China’s Guangdong province. Eight people were killed in Puning city, according to the municipal government’s publicity department.

One person was killed in Zijin county, a local resident and another remained missing, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

According to local authorities, the death toll rose to 54 as of this morning after the worst flooding in decades ravaged Fushun city, northeast China’s Liaoning province.

Extreme rainstorms battered Liaoning from Thursday to Saturday, leaving many rivers flooded in Fushun, according to the Liaoning provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

Water and power supply as well as communication were cut off in the townships of Longwo, Suqu and Shuidun.

About 61 reservoirs have reported water levels surpassing the danger lines by Sunday evening, Guangdong provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said.

Meanwhile, a landslide has buried at least one truck and trapped an unknown number of people on a highway in Guigang City, in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region today.

Firefighters are trying to reach the site.