More than 10,000 people have been evacuated from six villages
that have been flooded to divert water from the swelling Hanjiang
River in southern Guangdong Province.
No casualties had been reported in the villages in Liuhuang
Town, said Guo Chunshan, the town's Party chief.
"All the evacuated residents have been appropriately resettled,"
said Guo, adding more people would be relocated if necessary.
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The level of Hanjiang River, the second largest in Guangdong
after the Pearl River, had dropped nine-tenths of a meter since a
sluice gate was opened at 4:00 AM on Monday, but it was still 3.5
meters higher than the danger level, according to the food control
office of Fengshun County.
The level of Hanjiang River, which runs 400 kilometers in east
Guangdong, had risen since continuous heavy rainstorms hit the
county on Friday.
By 4:00 AM on Monday, the level reached 26.44 meters, the
highest in 50 years, threatening at least 2.5 million people along
the middle and lower reaches.
"Actually, landslides and collapses have been frequent along the
river dam area," said Guo. "If we hadn't opened the discharge gate,
the dam might have overflowed and the losses would have been much
more serious."
The village of Huanshi was almost completely submerged after the
diversion. Most of the buildings are inundated up to the tops of
the doors and villagers were piling their belongings on bamboo
rafts.
"My house has been totally submerged and my whole family is
staying with relatives," villager Zhan Meizhi told Xinhua.
"I don't know when we can return home, but village officials
told us the government would take care of us and we could get
compensation," said Zhan.
The local government organized more than 500 police and army
personnel to help the evacuation and rescuers distributed drinking
water and food.
According to the provincial observatory, more rains will hit the
southwestern and eastern part of Guangdong from Tuesday to
Thursday. Local governments have been warned to prepare for more
floods.
According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, rainstorms in south
China since the beginning of June had left 71 people dead and
affected more than 10.63 million people by Monday.
In Guangdong alone, at least 20 people were killed, 279 injured
and four are missing, according to the ministry's latest
report.
The province's economic losses stand at 1.25 billion yuan
(US$160 million), more than one third of the total losses from
disasters, according to the ministry.
The ministry has sent rescue teams to the disaster-affected
areas to assist relief work.
(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2007)
