Forty-two people have been killed and 13 others left missing after rain-triggered floods in northwest China's Gansu Province over the past two weeks, local authorities said.

As of 4:00 PM Monday, the downpours that began pounding 14 counties and districts in the cities of Longnan and Tianshui on Aug. 11 had affected 1.15 million residents, with more than 150,000 of them evacuated, said a statement from the provincial government.

The floods had caused 30,000 homes to collapse and damaged 110,000 others.

Nearly 60,000 hectares of crops had been flooded, said the statement.

In hardest-hit Chengxian County, floods had killed 23 people and left nine missing.

Emergency workers had cleaned up the sludge that had piled up in Chengxian primary and middle schools, enabling them to open on time for the fall semester, said a spokesman from the county's flood control and disaster relief headquarters.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2010)