Northern China flash flood kills 10, Xinhua reports

BEIJING (Reuters) -At least 10 people died in a flash flood in northern China, state media reported on Sunday, with two others still missing, as the East Asian monsoon continues to unleash atmospheric chaos across the world's second-largest economy.

The banks of a river running through the grasslands of Inner Mongolia burst at around 10 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Saturday, the report said, washing away 13 people camping on the outskirts of the city of Bayannur, a major agricultural hub.

A search and rescue operation involving more than 700 people is underway, according to state news agency Xinhua. One person has been rescued.

China has suffered weeks of extreme weather since July, battered by heavier-than-usual downpours with the monsoon stalling over its north and south.

Weather experts link the shifting pattern to climate change, testing officials as flash floods displace thousands and threaten billions of dollars in economic losses.

Bayannur is an important national grain and oil production base, as well as a sheep breeding and processing centre.

At the other end of the country, a three-and-a-half-month fishing suspension in the southern province of Hainan ended on Saturday, state media reported, after agricultural affairs officials ordered ships to shelter in port owing to persistent, heavy rain.

In the southwestern province of Sichuan, severe weather on Friday killed two people and injured three others at a beer festival in the city of Mianzhu, after a truss fell on them, according to a local police report on Saturday.

The deluge in Inner Mongolia follows a deadly downpour in Beijing - just under 1,000 km (621 miles) away - late last month which killed at least 44 people and forced the evacuation of more than 70,000 residents.

The central government announced last week 430 million yuan ($59.9 million) in fresh funding for disaster relief, taking the total allocated since April to at least 5.8 billion yuan.

(Reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by Kim Coghill and Sonali Paul)

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