Rains lash Gansu; at least 12 dead

Lin Duo, Party chief of Gansu, arrived in the disaster area on Wednesday night, leading a relief team.

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management sent 170 million yuan to Sichuan and Gansu provinces on Wednesday to facilitate disaster relief work, the emergency ministry announced on Thursday.

Flooding in Sichuan had left three people dead and caused direct economic losses of 2.4 billion yuan as of July 12, according to Sichuan disaster relief authorities.

On Thursday, in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Gansu's neighbor, local observatories in Yinchuan and Shizuishan issued red alerts for storms at 7:48 am and 5:28 am respectively, both forecasting precipitation of up to 50 millimeters for the next three hours.

China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system for storms, with red representing the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Meanwhile, the brief but strong rains that have hit Beijing intermittently since Sunday continued on Thursday. The downpours resulted in roadbed collapses in 36 places. The city's transport authority was continuing to make repairs on three sections on Thursday.

The authorities have warned of an escalating risk of landslides, mountain torrents and debris flow in rural areas and reminded people to be cautious if they travel to these areas.