Torrential rains have claimed more than 150 lives in China in the past 2 months

BEIJING (AP) — Landslides and flooding have killed more than 150 people around China in the past two months as torrential rainstorms batter the region.

The search was ongoing Monday for victims of a flood and mudslide in a mountainous Tibetan area in Sichuan province that left nine people dead and 18 others unaccounted for, state media said.

The early Saturday morning disaster destroyed homes and killed at least seven people in the village of Ridi, state broadcaster CCTV said in an online report. Two more people died after a nearby bridge between two tunnels collapsed and four vehicles plummeted.

China is in the middle of its peak flood season, which runs from mid-July to mid-August, and Chinese policymakers have repeatedly warned that the government needs to step up disaster preparations as severe weather becomes more common.

An annual government report on climate said last month that historical data shows the frequency of both extreme precipitation and heat has risen in China, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

A heat warning was in effect Monday in parts of eastern China, where temperatures were expected to top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in several cities including Nanjing, and 37 C (98 F) in nearby Shanghai on the coast.

There have been a series of deadly rainstorms since June.

Days of intense rain from the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi, which weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall in China about 10 days ago, killed at least 48 people in Hunan province and left 35 others missing last week.

Authorities said Friday that the death toll from an earlier storm in July that knocked out a section of a bridge in Shaanxi province in the middle of the night had risen to 38 people, with another 24 still missing.