Rainstorms and ensuing violent floods and mud-rock flow that hit northwest China's Gansu Province since late June have claimed 24 lives and left two others missing, according to local flood control and drought relief headquarters on Thursday.

The province reported 18 deaths and one missing in floods and mud-and-rock flow that struck the province from late June to July 17, according to the Gansu Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

Downpours, hailstorms and floods that hit Wuwei, Dingxi, Linxia and Gannan areas since July 27 left another six people dead and one missing, according to the headquarters.

The headquarters figures show that the disasters hitting the four places alone affected more than 300,000 people, flattening 1,786 houses and destroyed more than 26,000 hectares of crops, bringing an economic loss of over 200 million yuan (US$25 million) to the four places.

July and August are the major flood season in Gansu. Frequent rainstorms can easily cause violent floods and mud-and-rock flow in the province's mountainous areas partly due to poor vegetation and serious weathering and fragmentized earth's surface, said Wei Chuandeng, deputy head of the general office of the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2006)