Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains have killed at least 26
people and left 17 missing in southwest China’s Sichuan Province since
Monday night, the local government said on Saturday.
July 8 – Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains have killed at
least 26 people and left 17 missing in southwest China’s Sichuan Province
since Monday night, the local government said on Saturday.
The disaster has affected 8.19 million people in 43 cites and counties
across the province, it said.
Over the past week, more than 44 reported rainfall volume exceeding 100
millimeters, with Nanjiang County the highest at 542 millimeters.
In Guang’an, a city in eastern Sichuan, the rain volume topped 200
millimeters, swelled local rivers and caused flooding of urban area.
In Quxian County, two-third of its districts were flooded, cutting water,
electricity and gas supply for 183,000 downtown households.
So far, 320,000 people in the flood-hit areas have been evacuated to safe
places and the rescue and relief work are still underway.
The flood also destroyed 20,000 houses and 3.6 million mu (240,000
hectares) crop land. Meanwhile, traffic was cut on 76 highways and 441 km
of electricity supply lines were damaged.
The total economic loss is estimated at three billion yuan (US$395
million).
The provincial meteorological bureau has forecast further rainstorms in
the next week in Bazhong, Guang’an and five other cities in eastern
Sichuan as well as some areas on the western plateau.
The neighboring Chongqing Municipality has also suffered from heavy rain
since Wednesday. The municipal meteorological bureau warned the public to
be aware of flood, landslide and mud-rock flow risks.
Meanwhile, forecasters have warned that the upper reaches of the Huaihe
River, which runs through east China, had reached critical levels.
So far, floods in south, east and central China had caused more than 200
deaths and destroyed over 110,000 houses while droughts in the north had
left at least 7.4 million people short of drinking water, according to
the flood and drought prevention authorities.
Editors: Liu Ying liuying@chinadaily.com 中文名
Tags: About Beijing, About HongKong, About Wind, 中文tag
