10,000 residents evacuated as torrential rain batters China’s Guizhou
Beijing: Torrential rain battered parts of southwest China’s Guizhou province on Sunday, triggering floods and forcing the evacuation of nearly 10,000 residents.
The hardest-hit areas included Qianxi City, Zunyi City and Changshun County, Xinhua news agency reported.
In Qianxi, continuous downpours from Saturday through the early hours of Sunday affected all 30 townships in the city, with five townships experiencing exceptionally heavy rainfall.
Local authorities launched around-the-clock emergency response operations.
As of now emergency teams have evacuated 1,377 residents from 491 households and rescued more than 50 people trapped.
Meanwhile, in Changshun County, more than 3,000 residents from about 1,000 households in villages downstream of the Bancong reservoir were safely relocated after a power outage affected reservoir operations and led to overflow.
At 6 p.m. on Sunday, China’s Ministry of Water Resources and the China Meteorological Administration jointly issued a top-level red alert for mountain torrents, warning of a high risk of flash floods in parts of southeastern Guizhou from 8 p.m. Sunday to 8 p.m. Monday.
In response, local authorities in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture strengthened monitoring of 27 rivers and mobilised thousands of officials and flood-control personnel.
As of Sunday evening, 4,582 residents from 1,322 households in Qiandongnan had been evacuated in advance, while the evacuation of another 21,754 residents from 7,213 households is underway.
On May 26, China’s flood control authorities activated a Level-IV emergency response for Guizhou Province.
On May 19, China’s national commission for disaster prevention, reduction, and relief activated a Level-IV disaster relief emergency response for Guizhou province following severe flooding and geological disasters, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.
Four people died after sudden, extremely heavy rainfall triggered severe flooding and landslides in Guiding County of Guizhou province.