Dozens of houses in Shuanghe village were engulfed early on Tuesday morning after huge amounts of rock and mud slid down Ermanshan Mountain. Police rescued three survivors from the rubble including an 80-year-old, state media reported.

Thousands of villagers have been evacuated from their homes.

News has also emerged of a bridge collapse in central China on Saturday in which 33 people died.

China suffers monsoon-type rains every year but this year's rainfall has been the heaviest in more than a decade. Water levels in one tributary of the Yangtze river were reported to be the highest in 30 years at the weekend. Flood waters at the Three Gorges Dam are expected to peak on Wednesday, after torrential rain further up the Yangtze river over the weekend.

Since Sunday night, officials at the Three Gorges Dam have been pumping increased amounts of water through the sluices in anticipation of the coming flood.

Recent bad weather has killed 1,250 people in China, government officials say. The economic losses across the country are estimated to be more than $22bn (£14bn).

BBC