Heavy storms kill 11 people and leave 14 others missing in northeastern Chinese city

BEIJING -- Heavy rainstorms that swept a city in northeast China this week killed 11 people and left 14 others missing, while causing more than $1 billion in damages, state media reported Friday.

State broadcaster CCTV said an officer who was trying to save lives was one of the people who died in the city of Huludao in Liaoning province. Rescuers were still trying to find the people who went missing during the “historically rare” destructive rainfall, it said. An image from the broadcaster showed roads seriously flooded.

According to preliminary estimates, 188,800 people were affected by the natural disaster, with losses amounting to 10.3 billion yuan (about $1.4 billion), officials announced. A large number of roads, bridges and cables were damaged.

CCTV said the maximum daily rainfall recorded was 52.8 centimeters (nearly 21 inches), breaking the provincial record. The hardest-hit parts of the city experienced a year’s worth of rain in just half a day, and overall it was the strongest rainfall in Huludao since meteorological records began in 1951, it said.

The Chinese government allocated a fund of 50 million yuan ($7 million) to support disaster relief efforts.

China was in the middle of its peak flood season over the past month. Chinese policymakers have repeatedly warned that the government needs to step up disaster preparations as severe weather becomes more common.

Landslides and flooding have killed more than 150 people around China in the past two months as torrential rainstorms battered the region.