The death toll of the heavy snow and rain storms in southwest China's Yunnan Province has risen to eight as of Thursday afternoon, while two others were still missing, local rescuers said.
   
Blizzards and rainstorms ravaged the Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, near the river of Nujiang, since March 4. Some counties of the prefecture reported 16 cm of snow. The natural disasters cut off traffic, communication and power and damaged houses, livestock and crops.
   
Rescuers said the eight dead were all from the Ziba Village of the county of Lushui and that the survival chances for the two missing are very slim.
   
The life of more than 900,000 people of the prefecture were seriously affected by the disasters. The snow and rain storms also destroyed about 50,000 mu (3,333 hectares) of farmland.
   
The local government is busy dispatching relief materials and relocating the homeless people.
   
The prefecture is home to 22 ethnic groups and about 92 percent of the population is of ethnic groups.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2005)