Torrential rains since the weekend have left five people dead and four missing in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, according to the provincial Civil Affairs Administration on Wednesday.

Rains between 9:30 PM on Saturday and 2:30 AM on Sunday resulted in floods that killed three in Huayin Township.

A landslide caused by downpours on Wednesday morning in Yanchang County, in northern Shaanxi, left two more dead, according to sources with local flood control department.

Two houses collapsed, trapping five people within the rubble, but rescuers were able to save three of them.
 
The rains have affected about 200,000 people in Hanzhong and Ankang, two cities in the mountainous areas of southern Shaanxi.
   
In Hanzhong, the rainfall hit five counties most seriously, destroying 1,100 houses and 9,000 hectares of crops.
   
In Ankang, it affected four counties most seriously, destroying 232 houses and 3,900 hectares of crops.
   
Heavy rain has fallen in most parts of the province since June 29, particularly in 37 counties in the past three days, when five of them received over 50 mm rainfall, according to the province's Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
   
A local meteorological observatory forecast that it will be overcast and rainy until July 10, which will not help already burdened anti-flood operations.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2005)