New alert for southern China
- Source: Global Times
- [01:53 June 17 2010]
- Comments
By Deng Jingyin
Local residents walk on the road covered with mud and rock after flood in Cangwu County of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, June 16, 2010. Rainstorms that began pelting south China on Sunday, later triggered floods and landslides. As of Wednesday, China's Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said at least 42 people were dead and 36 missing due to the flooding. Photo: Xinhua
Several days of heavy rain that's left at least 42 people dead in southern China will continue to batter residents and property today, according to the National Meteorological Center.
Forecasters said strong wind and stormy weather conditions are expected to create hazardous conditions for residents in several provinces.
Heavy rain will continue to fall in several provinces including Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan and Guangdong. Authorities warned local leaders to prepare for more floods and other emergencies.
The latest period of rain began Sunday and as of Tuesday, at least 35 people were reportedly killed and 49 were missing due to the floods in Fujian, Guangxi and Sichuan. Over 100,000 residents were evacuated from their homes due to the floods, which damaged 7,000 homes and caused eco-nomic losses of 830 million ($121 million), according to the Xinhua News Agency.
The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has issued a red alert six times due to heavy rains.
In Jiangxi Province, more than 2,000 residents were evacuated and some cities and townships saw floods.
A landslide triggered by heavy rain on Tuesday killed 23 workers building a hydroelectric power plant near a mountainside in Sichuan Province.
Seven workers were being treated for injuries and three of them were severely injured.
The landslide happened at 1:25 am in Kangding county in the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan, crushing work sheds at the construction site.
According to the local government, four out of the 34 workers in the sheds managed to escape.
The part of the mountain that collapsed was about 40,000 cubic meters and the soil temporally blocked a river, which was flowing normally again after two hours.
A statement released by the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters over the weekend said floods have created havoc in 21 provinces this year, causing direct losses of about 24 billion yuan, an increase of 37 percent over last year.
However, compared with the extreme weather in the south, the northern China is experiencing unusually warm weather. The southern part of Hebei Province is expected to hit 38 C today while the Turpan Basin in the Xinjiang Urghur Autonomous Region. It is expected to be between 40 and 43 C.
