Rain-triggered disasters leave 14 dead, 20 missing in China's Yunnan

KUNMING -- Rain-triggered disasters, including floods and landslides, have killed 14 people with another 20 missing, in Southwest China's Yunnan province, authorities said Thursday.

As of Tuesday, 34,900 residents had been relocated after the disasters affected 1.1 million people in the province, according to the provincial department of water resources.

Direct economic losses reached 3.14 billion yuan (about $453.7 million), the department said in a statement.

So far, the average precipitation in the province has reached 688.3 mm this year, up 12.5 percent year on year, the statement added.

The provincial headquarters of flood control and drought relief on Tuesday raised the flood-control emergency response from Level IV to Level III.