Rain death toll reaches 392 and counting
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The nationwide death toll from torrential rain climbed to 392, with 143 people still missing, as of Wednesday, according to the latest information.
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Villagers help rescuers to cross river in Shunchang, a county of southeast China's Fujian Province, June 26, 2010. More than 4 million residents of Fujian Province were affected by flood which caused 78 dead and 79 missing till June 27.[Xinhua] |
The recent rainstorms have affected about 73 million people from 23 provinces and regions across the country and more than 5 million have been forced to evacuate, according to figures from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
Rain-triggered floods and landslides have damaged more than 4.6 million hectares of farmland and destroyed about 430,000 houses, causing direct economic losses of at least 88 billion yuan ($12.9 billion), figures show.
From 8 am on Tuesday to 8 am on Wednesday, heavy rain battered Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangdong and Sichuan, with the largest water volume reaching 193 mm in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, said the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
The State flood control office has called on 17 provinces and regions across the country to further prepare for possible natural disasters to keep the damages and causalities to a minimum.
Due to continuous rain, the water level of Poyang Lake in Jiangxi province has risen 0.42 meters above the alert level, the highest in eight years, the local hydrographic station said on Tuesday.
The extreme weather has triggered six dam breaches, with the latest crack reported in Guizhou on Tuesday morning, said the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
A landslide caused by a heavy downpour in Dazhai village, Guangwu township, Guanling county of Guizhou, buried 99 villagers at about 2:30 pm on Monday.
The rescue headquarters corrected the number of buried villagers from the previously reported 107 to 99 late on Tuesday night.
Some villagers were previously thought missing, but later found alive, the headquarters said.
By Wednesday afternoon, rescuers had recovered five bodies - including those of two children - from the ruins of the village.
As of 5:30 pm on Wednesday, 94 residents of Dazhai village remained missing. The bodies of the two children were recovered on Wednesday afternoon, bringing the confirmed death toll to five.
The chance of survival for those still buried is quite slim, Luo Ning, mayor of Anshun, who led the rescue efforts, said on Tuesday.
More bodies are expected to be found as 500 rescuers with heavy equipment continue to comb the ruins.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,200 villagers had been evacuated to safety, Huang Dongya, a general officer with the Guizhou public security and fire station, told China National Radio.
The Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters sent a working group to assist the flood control and rescue work immediately after the landslide on Monday.
More than 200 medical staff and 600 soldiers are involved in the rescue.
A further 2,560 people in five villages were trapped in water as deep as 1.5 meters in Qiannan Buyi and Miao autonomous prefecture in Guizhou on Tuesday, local authorities said on Wednesday.
Torrential rain has also lashed Guizhou's neighboring Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Sichuan province.
A fresh round of heavy rain is forecast for Yunnan, Sichuan, Shaanxi and other parts of South China by Saturday, the China Meteorological Administration said on its official website on Wednesday.
