Freak rainfall lashes nation's south

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-6-15  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

FREAK rain has lashed eastern and southern China in the past few days, causing deaths and massive evacuations.

Six people died and four are missing since Friday after rainstorms devastated parts of southern Guangdong Province and triggered the biggest river flood in nearly half a century, officials said yesterday.

From 7pm on Friday to 7am yesterday, 103 monitoring sites across the province reported precipitation of more than 100mm, with the heaviest - 269mm - in Duanfen Town, Jiangmen City, the Guangdong Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said.

The deaths included four in Shenzhen and two in Shaoguan. The missing included two in Heyuan and one each in Qingyuan and Shaoguan, it said.

From May 25 until yesterday, 18 people have died and 2.22 million people in 17 cities in Guangdong have been affected by the storms. The average rainfall of 415mm was double the long-term level, according to statistics as of 8am yesterday.

Also, 3,684 houses collapsed and 156,700 hectares of crops were flooded. The loss in the province was estimated at 1.87 billion yuan (US$271 million).

With frequent natural disasters, the central and local governments have become more skilled in handling emergencies such as floods. This has just been shown in the aftermath of the May 12 earthquake.

Although there have been some deaths in the rain outbreak, emergency measures taken by local governments have proved quite effective in reducing casualties.

On Friday, the Guangdong Provincial Flood Control Headquarters raised the flood emergency response level from Grade IV to III, highlighting the urgency of prevention efforts.

Some 100,000 residents in Lechang City, Guangdong, were evacuated after the city was flooded by the swollen Wujiang River, but no casualties were reported.