Flood Toll Rises to 800 Dead, 3,000 Injured in China

The casualty toll from flooding in China’s Sichuan province rose to more than 800 dead and 3,000 injured Friday as soldiers and paramilitary police joined local authorities in rescue efforts, local officials said.

Provincial radio in the capital, Chengdu, reported that the floods have affected 20 of the province’s 22 cities and prefectures.

The province had already been hit by severe hailstorms this spring, but a flood control official said this month’s rains “have posed the most severe disaster in the last eight years.”