Nearly 10,000 residents evacuated as torrential rain batters southwest China's Guizhou

GUIYANG, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Torrential rain battered parts of southwest China's Guizhou Province from Saturday to Sunday, triggering floods and forcing the evacuation of nearly 10,000 residents.

The hardest-hit areas included Qianxi City, Zunyi City and Changshun County.

In Qianxi, continuous downpours from Saturday through the early hours of Sunday affected all 30 townships in the city, with five townships experiencing exceptionally heavy rainfall.

Local authorities launched around-the-clock emergency response operations. So far, emergency teams have evacuated 1,377 residents from 491 households and rescued more than 50 people trapped.

Meanwhile, in Changshun County, more than 3,000 residents from about 1,000 households in villages downstream of the Bancong reservoir were safely relocated after a power outage affected reservoir operations and led to overflow.

At 6 p.m. on Sunday, China's Ministry of Water Resources and the China Meteorological Administration jointly issued a top-level red alert for mountain torrents, warning of a high risk of flash floods in parts of southeastern Guizhou from 8 p.m. Sunday to 8 p.m. Monday.

In response, local authorities in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture strengthened monitoring of 27 rivers and mobilized thousands of officials and flood-control personnel.

As of Sunday evening, 4,582 residents from 1,322 households in Qiandongnan had been evacuated in advance, while the evacuation of another 21,754 residents from 7,213 households is underway.