Flood alert upgraded to highest level in south China's Guangxi, Guangdong

NANNING, July 7 (Xinhua) -- South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region upgraded its flood alert to the highest-level red warning at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, soon followed by another flood red alert issued by its neighboring Guangdong Province.

By 7:00 a.m., water levels at 70 monitoring stations on 55 rivers in Guangxi remained between 0.01 and 7.46 meters above warning levels, according to the regional hydrology center, which also warned that elevated water levels would persist in several river sections over the next 24 hours.

Guangdong's hydrology authorities said that the rising upstream inflows have continued to push up water levels along the Xijiang River. Based on a forecast of rising water levels, a red flood alert was issued for the section of Xijiang that runs through Fengkai County, Zhaoqing City of Guangdong.

Two people were killed and about 55,000 others have been affected after torrential rains triggered flooding and breaches at several reservoirs in Nanning City, the regional capital of Guangxi, local authorities said at a press conference on Monday. A total of 48,000 people have been evacuated from the affected areas.

The casualties and evacuations came as Typhoon Maysak brought torrential rains to most parts of Nanning between 8 a.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Monday. Water levels at 59 rivers in Guangxi exceeded warning levels at 8 p.m. Monday.