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China flood deaths rise to 90

Residents try to salvage and clean up their belongings after flood waters swarmed the city of Guangan, southwest China's Sichuan province on September 19. Heavy flooding across large parts of China has left 90 dead and 22 missing, state-run news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday

Heavy flooding across large parts of China has left 90 dead and 22 missing, state-run news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday. Torrential rains have swamped parts of northern, central and southwest China, causing serious flooding in several provinces and forcing mass evacuations. The death toll has now risen to 90, with downpours, floods and landslides affecting nine regions, according to the National Disaster Reduction Commission, Xinhua said. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has sent 22,000 tents, 70,000 cotton quilts and 35,000 items of clothing to affected areas, the NDRC said. On Tuesday the ministry said 1.66 million people across the country had been forced to leave their homes. More than 120,000 houses had collapsed and economic losses from damaged houses, crops and land were estimated to have reached 26.09 billion yuan ($4.08 billion), it said. China is hit by big downpours every summer. Last year saw the nation's worst flooding in a decade, leaving more than 4,300 people dead or missing.