BEIJING - More than 80 people were killed and 2,000 missing Sunday after mudslides swept away homes and destroyed roads in northwestern China as the nation battles the worst flooding in a decade.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is travelling to the devastated region in Gansu province where more than 20,000 people have been evacuated, as deep rivers of sludge hamper rescue efforts, state media said.

Authorities have sent nearly 3,000 soldiers and about 100 medics to help in search and rescue efforts after the landslides in the mainly Tibetan region triggered by a deluge of rain late Saturday, reports said.

At least 50,000 people have been affected by floods which have submerged half of Zhouqu county, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing Mao Shengwu, the head of the affected Gannan prefecture.

The landslides swept mud, houses and other debris into a river flowing through the county which is located in a valley, blocking the waterway and triggering flooding, the government said.

State television broadcast images of local residents walking through mud-choked streets and pictures of buildings swept off their foundations and vehicles partly submerged by muddy water.

Other images showed soldiers shovelling mud as they searched for the thousands still missing.

President Hu Jintao and Wen urged rescuers to spare no effort to save lives in the latest natural disaster to strike the country, Xinhua said.

Reports said 70 people were also injured in the landslides.

Torrential rains that started Saturday have now stopped, reports said, but the local weather bureau has forecast more heavy rain in the upper reaches of the Bailong River on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"The water of the Bailong River flowed into the county seat and many people were trapped," said Diemujiangteng, the head of Zhouqu county.

"Now the sludge has become the biggest problem to rescue operations. It`s too thick to walk or drive through."

Some streets were covered with sludge as deep as one metre (three feet), Xinhua said.

Many houses were buried in the landslides which destroyed roads and bridges while telecommunications, water and electricity have been cut in parts of the region, reports said.

"Someone said the fifth floor of my residential building has been submerged. People are busy looking for their family members and friends," local resident Li Tiankui was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

Floodwaters have started to recede after authorities used explosives to blast the debris blocking the river, China News Service said.

According to government figures issued before the latest disaster, the number of people killed or missing in devastating floods across China this year had risen to more than 2,100.

China`s civil affairs ministry said Friday 1,454 people had died, another 669 were still missing and more than 12 million had been evacuated from their homes.

Large swathes of China have been hit by summer deluges that have triggered the worst floods in a decade, caused countless deadly landslides and swollen many large rivers to dangerous levels.

According to the ministry, 1.4 million homes have been destroyed by the floods that have also caused 275 billion yuan (41 billion dollars) in direct economic losses for the year.

China`s northeast is the worst-hit area, with entire towns flooded and rivers bordering North Korea swollen to critical levels, prompting fears of deluges in both countries.

China has suspended shipping and tourist boat traffic on the Yalu River, which forms the border with North Korea, over fears of flooding as authorities predict more rain.

In North Korea, floods had washed away homes, roads, railways and farmland in the deeply impoverished nation, state media said, but gave no casualty figures.

In August 2007, the country`s worst floods in a decade left at least 600 people dead or missing.

China`s national meteorological centre said Saturday that large swathes of the nation would see rain in the next 24 hours, although it was expected to be light in most areas.

But it warned that the northeast would once again be hit by torrential downpours.

BDST: 12.36 HRS, August 08, 2010