Major rivers, waterways and reservoirs in China’s Guangdong province threaten to trigger dangerous floods, forcing the government to adopt emergency response plans to protect more than 127 million people.
Describing the situation as “grim,” local weather officials said sections of rivers and tributaries of the Xijiang and Beijiang river basins were reaching their water levels at a rare level that only has a chance out of 50 to occur in a given year, the state said. CCTV News channel said on Sunday.
China’s Ministry of Water Resources has issued an emergency notice, CCTV reported.
Guangdong officials urged departments in all localities and municipalities to begin emergency planning to avoid natural disasters and quickly disperse disaster relief funds and materials to ensure that affected people have life. food, clothing, water and a place to live.
The province has been experiencing scorching downpours and strong winds for several days due to strong weather convections which have affected several regions of China in recent weeks.
A 12-hour period of heavy rain, starting at 8:00 p.m. (12:00 GMT) on Saturday, hit the central and northern parts of the province, in the cities of Zhaoqing, Shaoguan, Qingyuan and Jiangmen.
Nearly 20,000 people were evacuated in Qingyuan, according to state media, and some electrical installations in Zhaoqing were damaged, cutting off power in some places.
Qingyuan authorities also suspended classes at nursery, primary and secondary schools, according to local media.
“Please look at Huaiji County, Zhaoqing, which has become a water town. Old people and children in the countryside don’t know what to do when there is a power outage and no signal,” said a user on popular social media site Weibo.
Muddy, raging floodwaters swept away a vehicle on a narrow street in Zhaoqing, video posted by Hongxing News shows.
“It rained like a waterfall for an hour and a half on the highway on my way home last night,” said another Weibo user. “I couldn’t see the road at all.”
Authorities in Qingyuan and Shaoguan in Guangdong also banned ships from crossing several rivers, with maritime departments dispatching forces to be on duty and coordinate tugboats and emergency rescue ships.
Many hydrological stations in the province are exceeding water levels, weather officials warned, and in the provincial capital, Guangzhou, a city of 18 million, reservoirs have reached flood limits, said Sunday municipal authorities.
The data showed 2,609 hydrological stations with daily precipitation above 50 mm (1.97 inches), accounting for about 59% of all observing stations. As of 8 a.m. Sunday, 27 hydrological stations in Guangdong were on alert.
In neighboring Guangxi, to the west of Guangdong, strong hurricane-like winds swept through the region, destroying buildings, state media video footage showed. Some places also experienced major hail and flooding, CCTV said.
In another video, rescuers could be seen trying to save an elderly person clinging to a tree half submerged in floodwaters.
As of 10 a.m., 65 landslides were recorded in Hezhou city, located in Guangxi, state media reported.
News Source : www.theguardian.com
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