Three killed as Sichuan suffers torrential rain

Source: Xinhua  |   2009-5-16  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

THREE people died, two people were seriously injured, and nearly 3,000 others were evacuated in southwest China's Sichuan Province during rainstorms earlier this week, the local government department said yesterday.

The emergency response office with Dazhou City Government said the rain poured down in parts of the city from Sunday to Thursday, with more than 280,000 people being affected.

The civil affairs bureau of Daxian City said two of the dead were an elderly couple - Li Zongjie, 70, and his wife Liu Zhaoxiu, 72 - from Dazhou Village in Xuanhan County. The couple were killed when their house collapsed.

The other fatality was Zhu Guangxing, a 56-year-old man from Baotaba Village in Kaijiang County. Zhu was struck by lightning when he was inspecting his rice field.

Feng Yongcai, a 38-year-old man, and Liu Yongxiu, a 70-year-old woman, both of whom were from Jinzhu Village in Xuanhan County, were seriously injured when their houses collapsed in a landslide caused by heavy rain.

They are in stable condition, said the civil affairs bureau of Daxian City.

Many low-lying areas of the city were swamped, including parts of the downtown districts of Dazhou City.

The rain toppled 543 houses across the city, forcing 2,828 people to evacuate and affecting 20,600 hectares of crops.