Five people were killed and more than 90,000 people affected by rainstorms in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, government sources said on Sunday.

Downpours hit Shangluo city in southern Shaanxi from Friday to Sunday, bringing down 277 houses and cutting off communication in five towns, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The five deaths were reported in Danfeng county in Shangluo.

The rainstorms also damaged nine bridges and sections of two national highways, the headquarters said.

The death toll from natural disasters this year was 715 with 129 people missing by July 16, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2007)