Five people killed after flash flood sweeps away farmhouse in northern China

Five people were killed and four are missing after a flash flood washed away a farmhouse in northern China.

About a dozen people were having a meal in the building in a village near Xian in Shaanxi province when it was struck by the floodwaters on Monday, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

Torrential rain led river-water levels to rise and destroyed roads in the valley where the village is located, the report said.

About 50 people in the area trapped in their homes by floodwaters had to be evacuated by firefighters.

Four people have also died and one is missing after heavy rains in Liangcheng county in Inner Mongolia.

A landslide triggered by heavy rain swept away a car carrying three people that was driving along a slope, state broadcaster CCTV reported.