One person has been confirmed dead and 11 others remain missing after torrential rain triggered a mudslide early on Saturday in China’s Jiangxi Province, local authorities said.
The mudslide struck at about 4 a.m. local time (2000 GMT Friday) in Gaoping Town, Suichuan County, damaging 12 houses, the county said in a statement carried by Ada Derana.
The rain was brought by Typhoon Saudel. State broadcaster CCTV reported that more than 10 people were trapped after the landslide hit the town.
Suichuan County lies in the hilly south-west of Jiangxi, an inland province where saturated slopes above village settlements are prone to failure during sustained typhoon rainfall. Storms that make landfall on China’s south-east coast frequently weaken over land but continue to deliver heavy rain far inland, and landslides rather than wind account for a large share of the resulting casualties.
Not reported
The report does not identify the person confirmed dead, give the number of people evacuated, or say how many of the 12 damaged houses were occupied at the time. It does not state how many rescue workers are deployed, whether the missing figure and CCTV’s “more than 10 trapped” describe the same people, or whether rain is continuing at the site.
No casualty figures from elsewhere along Typhoon Saudel’s track were given, and the report does not say where the storm made landfall or where it was heading. There is no indication of when the next official update is expected.
This is a wire report reproduced by Ada Derana, which is the only Sri Lankan outlet carrying it. Figures in the early hours of a landslide response are provisional and commonly revised.
