Persistent rainfall triggered floods in northwest China's Qinghai Province, leaving two miners trapped, two others missing and more than 1,300 households of farmers and herdsmen affected by Monday afternoon, said local authorities on Monday.

Two people had been trapped in a gold mine since late Sunday in Dulan County, Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Haixi, and two others were missing.

"The mud flood blocked the mine exit where there were two workers underground," said Zou Hanbin, an official of the county government.

"Rescue work began immediately and still continues now."

Contact has not been established with the trapped yet.

The flood also made more than 200 households of herdsmen homeless and forced an evacuation of more than 1,100 households in Dulan, according to the prefecture government.

Some people in Dulan and Tianjun counties had difficulty in finding drinking water.

Another two counties, Wulan and Tianjun, as well as the two cities of Golmud and Delhi also suffered the floods. More than 1,000 heads of sheep were washed away.

Several bridges, sections of dams and highways were damaged as farmlands and pasture submerged by the floods in the prefecture.

The floods also disrupted three sections of National Highway No.109, which is known as the Qinghai-Tibet Highway for its part in Qinghai and Tibet.

One of the damaged sections was severely dangerous because its roadbed had been almost hollowed out. The transport authority said it could not be fixed until Wednesday.

The government had sent tents, beddings, bottled water and food to affected residents.

(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2008)