China storm kills 15 amid 40,000 lightning strikes

Beijing, July 18: A 16-hour storm unleashed more than 40,000 lightning strikes in China, killing 15 people, injuring more than 100 and bringing air, road and rail traffic to a halt, state media said today.

The storm, in the southwestern city of Chongqing, left five people missing and caused some 10,000 homes to collapse, the Beijing Times said.

It also left the landlocked and mountainous city almost cut off from the outside world as roads flooded, the airport closed, electricity was shut off and gas stations stopped working, the report added. Railway lines were severed.

The storm killed 10 people in Chongqing and five people in neighbouring Sichuan province, the Beijing Youth Daily added.

''The storm was too strong. It overwhelmed most of the city's drainage abilities,'' it quoted a city official as saying.

Large swathes of China have been hit by severe flooding this summer which have killed more than 400 people so far, causing economic losses of 37.3 billion yuan, according to state media.

Reuters>