Floods and landslides triggered by torrential rain continued to
wreak havoc across parts of southern China over the weekend.
A total of 877 residents were evacuated from their homes on
Saturday in Wuzhou, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, bringing the
number of evacuees from the city's flood-affected areas to
100,000.
All the evacuees are living in local schools or temporary
shelters on high ground, according to the Wuzhou municipal
government.
Wuzhou was hit by rainstorms on Thursday, which triggered
landslides, mud flows and flash floods, leaving 14 people dead and
27 others injured.
Meanwhile in east China's Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou's famous West Lake
was far from its usual "paradise on earth," as force 11 gusts
overturned 16 tourist boats and uprooted 629 trees, the worst
damage since 1988.
Also in the province, seven people working at a construction
site under a bridge in Hangzhou Bay were blown into the water by a
strong gust and are still missing, local officials said.
In neighboring Fujian Province, residents of Changting County
escaped unhurt after the bank of a river collapsed and flooded
nearby villages on Thursday, the local government said. Eleven
villages were flooded, but "no injuries were reported and water
levels are receding," officials said on Friday. The site of the
breach has been plugged.
Four passenger trains bound for provincial capital Fuzhou have
been halted in Shanghai, officials with the city's railway station
said.
At the same time, more than 4,000 passengers were evacuated in
Minqing after heavy rain washed out an approximately 300-meter
section of track on the Minqing-Fuzhou line on Saturday.
More than 100 buses have been dispatched from Fuzhou to take the
passengers to city, reports said.
Statistics indicated that by Friday, the floods in Fujian had
killed 25 people with 5 still missing. Approximately 3 million
people have been affected by the storms, for example by destruction
of property.
In south China's Guangdong Province, people in Heping County
had to leave their homes after a series of landslides hit the area,
China Central Television said over the weekend. However, the report
did not give any details on when the landslides occurred or if
there were any injuries.
Officials with the provincial anti-flood headquarters said
yesterday the water level in four major Pearl River tributaries is
declining rapidly thanks to a decrease in rainfall.
(China Daily June 12, 2006)