A section of the highway between southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region and Sichuan Province was blocked by mudflow on Saturday. Transportation was suspended due to that.

The section, at Lizhi County of Linzhi Prefecture in Tibet, was damaged by mudflow caused by heavy rainfall, said Sun Hongjun, an armed police officer in charge of the repair work.

August was a rainy season in Tibet, and rainfall there increased by 30 percent in the first half compared with that of the normal level in the past years. This brought risks to the road and transportation.

Repair work is expected to be finished in about a week.

(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2008)