At Least Six Dead As Flash Floods Devastate China's Qinghai Province

The flash flood has affected the lives of more 6,000 people in total, and more than 1,500 houses have been damaged.

Southern China has been severely affected by floods. Image used for representation only. 

(Photo: phys.org)

Six people have died and 36 others are missing after a flash flood caused havoc in China's Qinghai province in the western part of the country, according to reports by Chinese state media on Thursday, 18 August.

The state broadcaster, China Central Television, reported that a sudden rainstorm triggered a landslide on Wednesday night, with emergency services calling it a "mountain torrent" disaster in Datong county.

The flash flood has affected the lives of more than 6,000 people in total, and more than 1,500 houses have also been damaged, the Associated Press reported.

State media has described the heat and drought that China is facing this summer as the worst since the government started keeping records around six decades ago.

Temperatures across Sichuan and neighboring provinces have exceeded 40 degrees celsius, according to the BBC.

Provinces around the drought-stricken river of Yangtze have turned to what is known as cloud seeding operations in order to induce rain. Hubei and a couple of other provinces have even sent rockets carrying chemicals into the sky, according to local Chinese media.

(With inputs from Reuters and AP.)