The heaviest rainfall in decades has triggered floods and landslides in southern China, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people, state media reported.
The downpours have dangerously swelled waterways in the low-lying Pearl River basin in the past few days, threatening manufacturing, shipping and logistics operations at a time when supply chains are already stressed because of China’s COVID-19 restrictions.
The average rainfall in Guangdong, Fujian and Guangxi provinces between early last month and the middle of this month reached 621mm, the highest since 1961, data from the Chinese National Meteorological Center showed.
Photo: AFP
State media photographs showed people huddled on camp beds in schools converted into temporary shelters in Guangdong’s Shaoguan city and hundreds of tents erected on a sports ground.
In Guangxi region, muddy water was seen flooding urban areas and emergency rescuers were evacuating villagers on rubber dinghies, state media images showed.
Guangdong authorities on Monday said that more than 200,000 people had been evacuated and that the damage was estimated at 1.7 billion yuan (US$254 million).
The evacuees were among almost 480,000 people affected by the rains and floods, the officials said.
Shaoguan issued a “red” flood alert — the most serious — yesterday morning, after multiple rural counties and the major city of Foshan upgraded their flood warnings.
Meteorological authorities on Monday said that 28 of Guangxi’s rivers had exceeded warning levels, with rains continuing yesterday.
Jiangxi Province issued a red alert for flooding on Monday.
In China’s Fujian Province, more than 220,000 people have been evacuated since the beginning of this month because of floods, Xinhua news agency said on Monday.
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