Flash floods have killed at least 25 people in remote towns in southwest China where 30 are missing, while the northeast is suffering sustained drought, state media said on Wednesday.
Rainstorms hit the counties of Wangmo and Luodian in the mountainous province of Guizhou on Monday night, triggering torrents of water that had destroyed 1,295 houses, state television said.
Transport and communication links to Wangmo were cut off on Wednesday, the Beijing News said.
South China is regularly hit by floods and typhoons in the summer, but state media reports say this year’s rainfall has been unusually high.
The provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi and Jiangxi have taken the brunt of the rainstorms since late May, with floods, landslides and house collapses killing about 100 people and forcing the evacuation of hundred of thousands.
While floods hit the southern provinces, where rain is forecast until late June, northeast China has been suffering from a prolonged drought.
“It means 7.34 million people are short of drinking water, as well as 6.75 million head of cattle,” the China Daily said, quoting a disaster relief official.
Worst hit provinces were Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia where more than 8 million hectares of cropland had been damaged and 370 reservoirs had dried up, it said.