Rain-triggered floods kill at least 11, wreak havoc in China

HEFEI, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Continuous rainfall has impacted many parts of eastern and southern China, claiming lives, damaging crops and cutting off roads. Local authorities have raised emergency response levels to minimize the impact of the extreme weather conditions.

As of late Friday, torrential rains have resulted in the loss of at least 11 lives -- two in east China's Anhui Province and nine in south China's Guangdong Province.

At 9 a.m. on Friday, Anhui raised the emergency response for major meteorological disasters (rainstorms) from Level IV to Level III, as strong downpours are expected to batter the province over the next three days.

The city of Huangshan in the province, where the casualties were reported and home to the renowned Huangshan Mountain, raised the emergency response levels for flood control twice on Thursday from Level IV to Level III, and to Level II.

The city's average rainfall from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 11 p.m. Thursday reached 176.4 mm, with the maximum precipitation of 405.7 mm recorded in Tunxi District.

As of 11:30 p.m. Thursday, about 179,000 people had been affected, with nearly 11,000 residents temporarily evacuated. The area of damaged crops reached 10,480 hectares, according to the publicity department of the city's Party committee.

Rain-triggered floods had cut off 50 roads in the city, including nine national or provincial highways. The public passenger transport operations in five county-level areas were all suspended.

The city mobilized more than 3,000 rescuers, 235 firefighting vehicles and 105 vessels for rescue relief, evacuating and rescuing over 2,400 stranded residents.

Near the Guguan shopping center in Shexian County, a rescue team cracked open a rolling door to save a group of stranded people late Thursday.

"The waterlogging level rose so fast that we were trapped inside before we could finish transferring the goods that were soaked in water," said Fang Jie, one of the saved residents.

Gao Bin, a rescuer on site, said the team started working at 5 a.m. Thursday, and as of 10 p.m. Thursday, his smartwatch showed he had walked 31,564 steps. "We'll go wherever we are needed," said Gao.

He said some rural roads collapsed in the rain, forcing the rescuers to walk to reach certain remote villages in the mountainous area.

In the city's Huizhou District, a high-lying study tour base in Chengkan Township has been transformed into a temporary settlement site for evacuated residents. As of 5 p.m. Thursday, 46 households had been sent there, and that number has continued to climb. The site offers sufficient meals and has doctors on standby.

Chen Tieniu, deputy head of the township, said it is now a critical period for flood control.

"All cadres at the township and village levels have been assigned to disaster-prone sites to patrol and conduct inspections. They have also been tasked persuading residents in dangerous areas to evacuate so that they can safely make it through the flooding season," said Chen.

In Guangdong, heavy rains have left four people dead and four others missing in Meixian District of the city of Meizhou, and another five dead and two others missing in Jiaoling County of Meizhou. Rescue and disaster relief efforts are underway in both places, local authorities said.

In Fujian Province, which borders Guangdong, continuous rains starting on June 16 have disrupted the lives of more than 100,000 residents in the city of Longyan.

Despite the flood levels decreasing, it's still taking time for locals to be able to resume their normal lives.

Rain-triggered landslides had cut off water, power and telecommunication supplies in some areas of Zhongdu Township, Shanghang County, which are under urgent repair.

"We have mobilized more than 150 units of equipment and 500 people to ensure the post-disaster water supply," said Wei Jinrong, a manager stationed in Longyan from the Fujian provincial water development group.

Luo Jian, Party chief of the county, said more than 8,000 cadres have been dispatched to the grassroots level in the county around the clock for disaster relief.

"We will make every effort to restore the normal production and living order of the affected people as soon as possible," said Luo.