Four days of rain has caused flooding in the Tianshan Mountain areas in central Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, sources said Tuesday.

In the Kazak Autonomous County of Barkol alone, one person was killed in the flood, which has affected more than 20,000 people.

The Tianshan Mountain areas have received continuous rainfall from July 11 and mountain torrents, at a maximum of 26 cubic meters per second, have wrecked more than 1,000 houses and livestock buildings, and inundated some 670 hectares of cropland.

Rainstorms have hit northern Xinjiang, causing varying damages.

(People's Daily July 16, 2003)