Nearly 6,000 villagers evacuated after reservoir bank collapses in northwest China

Nearly 6,000 villagers evacuated after reservoir bank collapses in northwest China

A heavy downpour caused a reservoir in northwest China to breach its bank Thursday, flooding four nearby villages and forcing up to 6,000 people to flee their homes, an official said.

No injuries or deaths were reported after a 10-meter section of the reservoir's bank collapsed in the Gaotai county of Gansu province, said Wang Jing, an official from Gaotai's Communist Party Committee, in a telephone interview.

Wang said between 5,000 and 6,000 people in four villages neighboring the 3.5 million cubic meter (124 million cubic feet) reservoir have been evacuated.