国内英语新闻:China to battle storms following heat wave

By Thursday, 485 people have died while 225 remain missing following floods and other storm-related disasters that hit 25 provinces in China this year, according to the latest government figures. The direct economic losses have amounted to 90.9 billion yuan.

Floods have killed 25 people and left another three missing in northwest China's Qinghai Province in the first week of July.

China's flood control authority, the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, on Thursday launched a level IV emergency response after the Qinghai devastation.

A serious flood hit the province's Golmud River basin due to recent rainstorms and melting snow. Wenquan Reservoir, a large reservoir filled by a tributary of the Golmud River, reported a dangerously high water level only about 3.02 meters from the dam's top at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, local authorities said.

But the water had stopped rising at a rapid rate and no other dangers were found except for some small leaks in the embankment, they said.