Rainstorms claim 115 lives in China

BEIJING - Continuous rains with hail in the past few days have left 115 people dead and 21 missing in southern China, authorities said Monday.

According to the ministry of civil affairs, strong rainstorms in the southern regions have triggered floods, mud-rock flows, swollen rivers and burst dikes, damaging highways, bridges and power facilities.

As of Monday, some 685,000 people in 241 cities of 12 provinces had been evacuated, Xinhua reported.

The rainstorms were responsible for the ruin of 78,000 houses and 122,100 hectares of crops, causing direct economic losses worth 15.25 billion yuan ($2.23 billion), the ministry said.