More heavy rains expected to drench the south
More heavy rain is forecast to drench southern China, a region that is already crying for mercy after torrential downpours and resulting floods and landslides have left dozens of people dead or missing over the past several days.
At least 42 people had died and 36 were missing while at least 1.43 million people were affected by the floods in southwestern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region , Sichuan, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Fujian, the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters (SFDH) said.
Minister of Water Resources and SFDH chief Chen Lei said 14 days of heavy rainfall since June 13 had caused serious floods and many landslides in southern China.
Xinhua said yesterday that more than 6,000 homes had been damaged and economic losses had reached 2.04 billion yuan (HK$2.32 million). More than 110,000 people had been evacuated.
Railway services had been affected and roads were blocked.
Several lines in Fujian broke down yesterday because of landslides, delaying travellers heading to Xiamen from Zhejiang and Anhui .
The forecast for today offers no relief. Heavy rains will continue to batter Hunan, Fujian and Guangxi. Rainstorms will also pound Jiangxi, Guangdong and Guizhou provinces in the south and southeast, and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the northwest, meteorological authorities said.
Disaster relief authorities launched a level III emergency response plan on Monday night to help flood victims, under which local authorities must report to the State Council within two hours and send a work team to the disaster zone within 24 hours.
Flash-flood warnings remained in effect for many rivers in southern and eastern China, among them the Min, Jin and Jiulong in Fujian; the Xi and He in Guangxi; and the Xiang in Hunan.
The SFDH has sent six work teams to flood-hit areas including Hunan, Fujian, Guangxi and Xinjiang.
At least 10 people had died and 15 were missing in Guangxi after heavy rain since June 13, Xinhua reported.
In Fujian, the downpours have triggered landslides and flash floods, which engulfed two vehicles in Nanping on Tuesday, leaving at least six people dead and 24 missing. The rain has also disrupted railway traffic and damaged power lines in the province, and hundreds of technical workers have been dispatched to make repairs.
In Sichuan, 23 people were killed on Tuesday when part of a mountain broke loose and slammed into tents where construction workers were sleeping. It was not clear whether they were included in the reported flood death toll.
The collapse triggered a flow of 40,000 cubic metres of mud nearly 200 metres high, burying the sheds where 34 workers stayed near the Jintang River. Rescuers found the bodies of 22 victims before noon. Another worker died on the way to the hospital. Only four workers were unharmed. The seven injured workers were in stable condition.
No death toll had been reported in Guangdong, but more than 240,000 residents have been affected and 22,000 of them have been evacuated.
Flood misery
The number of people affected by the floods in southern China is: 1.43m
