Flash floods and mud-rock flows slammed into a remote village in Central China's Hunan Province on Sunday, killing at least 18 people.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs yesterday said 18 others were still missing following the disaster, the latest in a stream of catastrophes triggered by torrential rain.

More than 2 million people have been affected by disasters caused by rain in the province since June 22, with 125,000 displaced for safety reasons, said Li Baojun, a ministry official in charge of disaster relief.

On Sunday, 25 centimetres of rain fell in Hunan's Longhui County, prompting severe floods and mudslides, which toppled at least 15 houses in Qingshan'ao Village.

Liu Qingdong, head of the village, died while trying to organize an evacuation, reported the Xinhua News Agency.

Rescue crews were looking for the missing, the report said.

In Southwest China's Guizhou Province, the provincial government has dispatched more than 1,000 rescue workers to help disaster-hit regions recover, reported Xinhua.

More than 300 townships in the province were struck by heavy rain and a number of houses, farm, traffic and power facilities have been destroyed since June 1.

In the province's Wangmo County, flash flooding has killed 30 people, while 20 others have been missing since June 12.

In another development, a powerful thunder storm hit Dali, a county in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on Sunday evening, destroying a Taekwondo centre and killing seven pupils in it, according to local sources.

The storm hit the county at about 7:00pm, with strong winds blowing down many trees and electricity poles. "Beside the seven killed pupils, 10 others were injured by the collapsing centre, which they were taking a Taekwondo class when the storm hit," Sun Yunfeng, Magistrate of the county, told China Daily yesterday.

The children are thought to have died when a brick wall collapsed on them.

According to Zhao Yisheng, children's doctor in the county hospital, the dead and injured children are aged between 9 and 13.

The injured are now in a stable condition after emergency treatment.

An old man was also killed by a falling tree.

And 90 per cent of the county's power supply was wiped out by the storm, local sources said.

Source: China Daily