Fourteen people have been killed and six are missing after rainstorms triggered floods and landslides in Zhaotong, a city in southwest China's Yunnan Province, Xinhua quoted local government as saying on Monday. Floods, landslides and mud-rock flows had destroyed 533 houses and more than 600 km of highways as of Sunday evening, an official with the Zhaotong government said. Schools, factories, mines and infrastructure facilities were also damaged. The downpour started on Thursday, bringing precipitations of more than 150 millimeters to five counties and more than 50 mm to three quarters of Zhaotong, said Wu Yongfei, vice mayor of Zhaotong. Water levels in the city's rivers of Baishui, Luoze, Guanhe and Hengjiang were dangerously high, said Wu. The Kunshui and Shihua Highways, two major lines in Zhaotong, were completely cut off and would not reopen in a week. "Zhaotong suffered huge economic losses from the rainstorms," Wu said, without giving estimates of the loss.
