A group of 13 people were camping outdoors in Inner Mongolia's Urat Rear Banner when a flash flood occurred around 10 pm (1400 GMT) on Saturday, state news agency Xinhua said.
As of Sunday afternoon, one person had been rescued and over 700 workers were "urgently" searching for the missing, Xinhua added.
The Ministry of Emergency Management has ordered full-scale rescue efforts, verification of the status of the missing, and dispatched a working group to the scene, state broadcaster CCTV said.
Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer, when some regions experience heavy rain while others bake in searing heat.
The death toll from flash floods and mudslides in northwest China in early August was at least 13, state media said previously.
Heavy rain in Beijing in the north also killed 44 people last month, with the capital's rural suburbs hardest hit, and another eight people died in a landslide in nearby Hebei province.
Scientists have shown that human-driven climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that can make destructive floods more likely.
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