North Korea evacuated more than 5,000 people in a region bordering China following heavy rain and flash floods submerged houses and farmland, a Pyongyang report said Sunday.
Military planes and warships were urgently deployed on Saturday to the submerged areas in and around Sinuiju, a North Korean border town, and successfully rescued the residents who were "at the crossroads of life and death," the report by the Korean Central News Agency said.
It did not mention if there were any casualties.
China's Xinhua news agency also reported that four people died and more than 64,000 were evacuated on the Chinese side after the heavy rains.
The North Korean report said "unprecedented downpours" hit China's northeastern regions from Thursday to Friday, sparking flash floods in the Amnok River that marks the border between the two nations.
It reported that 5,300 cubic meters of water rushed into the river per second from China, prompting its sudden overflow at midnight on Friday. The flash flood "paralyzed traffic and did damage to many objects" and "flood victims were at a loss on the roof tops of buildings and hills," the report said.
Military planes and naval ships evacuated at least 5,150 flood victims to safe areas, it added.