Relentless rains were swelling rivers to record levels in south and central China yesterday as the nation braced for more flood-related disasters that have already taken the lives of 235 people.
Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei (陳雷) warned regional officials that their jobs were at stake if they failed to protect people from the effects of the deluge, his ministry said on its Web site.
Workers and soldiers in central China’s Hunan Province meanwhile scrambled to shore up dykes as waters reached record levels along the Xiang river as it passed through Changsha city, where over six million people live.
PHOTO: AFP
After water levels on the Xiang surpassed danger marks by 2.5m on Friday — the highest in a decade — flood prevention experts were bracing for “historic highs” in the coming days, China National Radio reported.
In the heart of Changsha, Zhuzizhou island, a famed tourist spot immortalized in a poem by revolutionary leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東), was largely submerged by the swollen Xiang, it said.
Television footage showed small towns and rural areas upriver from Changsha deluged with water as residents evacuated low-lying areas and scrambled to higher ground carting food and other supplies.
At least 235 people have died and 109 have been reported missing in flooding and landslides triggered by torrential rains that have pounded south and central China since June 13, the civil affairs ministry said.
The rains have caused 53 billion yuan (US7.8 billion) in economic losses, with over three million people forced to evacuate, it said.
According to the national meteorological center, rains continued to fall yesterday on the hard-hit provinces and regions of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi.
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