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Mountain flooding hit Xiahe county, Northwest China’s Gansu Province on Wednesday night with seven people missing and three others injured as of Thursday morning. 

All the injured have been transferred to hospital for treatment, the China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Thursday. 

According to the local emergency response department in Xiahe, heavy rainfalls hit parts of the county around 11:40 pm on Wednesday with mountain flooding occurred multiple locations including Guoning village and several stretches of road. 

Local authorities are still searching for the missing individuals. After the disaster happened, the local government swiftly launched the emergency response and organized the rescue forces from emergency, public security and firefighting departments to carry out rescue and relief work.

The city of Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu, issued a blue alert for rainstorms at 8:10 am on Thursday. According to the Lanzhou Meteorological Administration, a maximum accumulative rainfall of 48.2 millimeters was recorded in Laijiagou in Lanzhou New Area. It is expected that the accumulated precipitation in this area will surpass 50 millimeters within 12 hours. 

The meteorological authority called for residents to beware of secondary disasters such as small- and medium-sized river flooding, waterlogging in urban and rural areas, flash floods, landslides and mud rock flows that may be caused by the accumulation of heavy rains. 

Global Times