"A middle-of-the-night landslide buried hundreds of homes and flooded hundreds more in a remote mountainous region of northern China’s Gansu Province early Sunday, leaving 127 people dead and 2,000 more missing, officials said Sunday evening...The slide appeared to be the worst in a string of weather-related events that have struck China in a summer marked by torrential rain and insufferable heat. The government said on Aug. 4 that floods had hit 28 provinces so far this year, killing 1,072 and leaving 619 missing. The waters have wrecked 1.1 million homes and caused damages totaling 209.6 billion renminbi, or about $31 billion. A July 27 slide triggered by heavy rain buried at least 21 people in Sichuan province. While floods have largely plagued the north, much of southern China has limped through its worst drought in decades, forcing the government to import and burn vast stocks of coal to supplement dwindling hydroelectric power. Sunday’s landslide struck a rural area on the Sichuan border, which is about one-third ethnic Tibetan, including many farmers and herders. Officials said the slide hit about midnight in Zhouqu, a city of about 40,000 people bounded on both sides by steep mountains and bisected by the Bailong River, which runs lengthwise through the narrow valley." - Lit