46 lives lost in worst flooding for 50 years
Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily |
July 12, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Floodwaters surging through the Himalayan foothills in southwest China have swept bridges, houses and hillsides into roiling brown torrents, leaving at least 31 people dead and 166 missing yesterday, as heavy rains buffeted many parts of the country.
Flooding in the southwestern province of Sichuan was the worst in 50 years for some areas, with more than 220,000 people forced to evacuate.
Nationwide, at least 46 people have died due to the violent weather since Sunday, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Thousands of homes have been destroyed or damaged and transportation has come to a virtual standstill in hard-hit areas.
Many of the casualties in Sichuan were from a massive landslide that struck a scenic resort outside the city of Dujiangyan, killing at least 18 people and leaving 107 missing. An entire hillside collapsed onto clusters of holiday cottages where city dwellers go to escape the summer heat, a survivor told Xinhua news agency.
"The noise was like thunder and went on for two or three minutes. My first thought was that I too would be buried," Gao Quanshi, 47, said. Phone lines were cut, so villagers had to trek to nearby government offices to call for help, he said.
Images from the scene showed a valley filled with mud and rocks, with only the tops of trees visible. Drenched rescuers wearing helmets and life jackets worked mostly with hand tools to prevent harming any survivors still trapped beneath.
Some 352 people previously reported to have been trapped at the scene have been rescued and relocated.
The 94 centimeters of rainfall that fell on Dujiangyan over 40 hours from Monday was the heaviest since records began in 1954, local officials said.
The region lies in the foothills of the Tibetan Plateau, where mountains rise sharply from the densely populated Sichuan basin.
Fast-running rivers quickly overflowed their banks, flooding scores of towns and parts of the provincial capital of Chengdu, where the waters rose to the second floor and covered the tops of cars.
Stone bridges and brick houses along river banks in the city were swept away, including one in which residents were taking shelter, while others crumbled into the saturated earth already rent with fissures from a massive 2008 earthquake.
More than 1,820 people have been relocated from waterlogged central urban areas to avoid possible safety risks. The city's education bureau has told all schools to suspend classes.
Rainstorms resulted in four people being killed and left 20 others missing in Wenchuan County, which was the epicenter of the 2008 earthquake.
About 234,000 people have been affected and four people are still missing in the city of Deyang. However, 231 people trapped in Hongbai Township in the county-level city of Shifang, administered by Deyang, were found by rescuers yesterday afternoon, the local disaster relief headquarters said.
As of yesterday morning, flooding had cut off all routes into three townships in Maoxian County. Local authorities are trying to find out the exact number of people missing in the region. Search and rescue work is under way.
Meanwhile, meteorological authorities are warning of a new round of heavy rain expected next Thursday.
Flooding in the southwestern province of Sichuan was the worst in 50 years for some areas, with more than 220,000 people forced to evacuate.
Nationwide, at least 46 people have died due to the violent weather since Sunday, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Thousands of homes have been destroyed or damaged and transportation has come to a virtual standstill in hard-hit areas.
Many of the casualties in Sichuan were from a massive landslide that struck a scenic resort outside the city of Dujiangyan, killing at least 18 people and leaving 107 missing. An entire hillside collapsed onto clusters of holiday cottages where city dwellers go to escape the summer heat, a survivor told Xinhua news agency.
"The noise was like thunder and went on for two or three minutes. My first thought was that I too would be buried," Gao Quanshi, 47, said. Phone lines were cut, so villagers had to trek to nearby government offices to call for help, he said.
Images from the scene showed a valley filled with mud and rocks, with only the tops of trees visible. Drenched rescuers wearing helmets and life jackets worked mostly with hand tools to prevent harming any survivors still trapped beneath.
Some 352 people previously reported to have been trapped at the scene have been rescued and relocated.
The 94 centimeters of rainfall that fell on Dujiangyan over 40 hours from Monday was the heaviest since records began in 1954, local officials said.
The region lies in the foothills of the Tibetan Plateau, where mountains rise sharply from the densely populated Sichuan basin.
Fast-running rivers quickly overflowed their banks, flooding scores of towns and parts of the provincial capital of Chengdu, where the waters rose to the second floor and covered the tops of cars.
Stone bridges and brick houses along river banks in the city were swept away, including one in which residents were taking shelter, while others crumbled into the saturated earth already rent with fissures from a massive 2008 earthquake.
More than 1,820 people have been relocated from waterlogged central urban areas to avoid possible safety risks. The city's education bureau has told all schools to suspend classes.
Rainstorms resulted in four people being killed and left 20 others missing in Wenchuan County, which was the epicenter of the 2008 earthquake.
About 234,000 people have been affected and four people are still missing in the city of Deyang. However, 231 people trapped in Hongbai Township in the county-level city of Shifang, administered by Deyang, were found by rescuers yesterday afternoon, the local disaster relief headquarters said.
As of yesterday morning, flooding had cut off all routes into three townships in Maoxian County. Local authorities are trying to find out the exact number of people missing in the region. Search and rescue work is under way.
Meanwhile, meteorological authorities are warning of a new round of heavy rain expected next Thursday.
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