BEIJING (Reuters) - Mudslides after heavy rain have killed five people and trapped more than 500 in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, the Xinhua state news agency said on Friday, the latest natural disaster to strike China recently.
The rains started late on Thursday in Mianzhu, close to provincial capital Chengdu, Xinhua said. The area was hard hit during a massive earthquake in 2008 in which at least 80,000 people died.
The landslides have cut off some roads and communications. The government has already dispatched rescue teams, the report added.
But many people had already been evacuated once it became clear how heavy the rains were going to be, it said.
More than 1,000 people died in the town of Zhouqu in northwest Gansu province when an avalanche of mud roared down the slopes of a mountain last weekend after torrential rain.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ken Wills)
