Four people were dead in recent rainstorms in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, local authorities confirmed here Thursday.

Parts of the province were hit by heavy rainstorms Tuesday and Wednesday, causing the collapse of houses and mountain torrents.

In Huxian County, more than 200 participants in a temple fair Wednesday were trapped on the top of Jiuhua Mountain after the mountain path was damaged by torrents. A 59-year-old woman was washed away by the flood and was later found dead. The others were rescued after six hours of work on the part of 300 rescuers.

A farmer in Shangzhou, south Shaanxi Province, was buried and died in his house that collapsed in a sudden downpour at a nearby hill Wednesday morning.

Two eight-year-old children mowing grass in a valley in Yan'an Tuesday afternoon were washed away by floods. Their bodies were found later in a river bank 20 kilometers away.

(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2004)