The death toll from rain-triggered landslides and flooding in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has climbed to 51 with two people still missing, the local government said Saturday. In Rongxian County of Yulin City alone, 30 people were confirmed dead after rain-triggered landslides buried several homes in two mountainside villages on Tuesday, Xinhua quoted the county's emergency rescue headquarters as saying in a press release. It said rescue work ended Friday night, after the dead body of the last "missing" villager was retrieved. A similar disaster killed at least a dozen people in Cenxian County, where rescue work was continuing Saturday. Heavy rain and subsequent floods and landslides had hit 42 counties in nine cities including Laibin, Yulin and Wuzhou this week, the regional flood prevention and drought control office said. It said more than 11,000 houses were destroyed, forcing 200,000 people to evacuate. As of Saturday, rain-triggered disasters have destroyed 15 reservoirs and about 4,000 irrigation facilities, the office said. Guangxi's grain output would be down by about 150,850 tonnes, it said.
