South China prepares for flash floods
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More rain is expected to pound South China this week and create hazardous conditions for residents in several provinces, according to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), which issued a flash flood watch for this afternoon.
The CMA issued the blue-level warning Monday morning saying tremendous rain is expected in at least 10 provinces including Hunan, Anhui, Hubei, Shandong and Zhejiang. The warning means at least 50 millimeters of rain is expected within 12 hours.
![A bridge dating back over 230 years was destroyed by a torrential flood in Zhuxi village, Xupu county, Hunan Province. Many homes and roads along the Zhuxi River were also damaged by the freak stormy weather which began on May 12. [Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20100518/00114320f5750d5c696637.jpg "A bridge dating back over 230 years was destroyed by a torrential flood in Zhuxi village, Xupu county, Hunan Province. Many homes and roads along the Zhuxi River were also damaged by the freak stormy weather which began on May 12. [Xinhua]") |
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A bridge dating back over 230 years was destroyed by a torrential flood in Zhuxi village, Xupu county, Hunan Province. Many homes and roads along the Zhuxi River were also damaged by the freak stormy weather which began on May 12. [Xinhua] |
Those areas were told to get into disaster mode and be prepared to deal with floods, landslides and long periods of rain.
Since May 12, heavy rainfall has disrupted the lives of 3.7 million people, damaged 12,700 homes and resulted in an estimated 1.66 billion yuan ($240 million) in economic losses, the Xinhua News Agency reported Monday, citing the provincial flood-control and drought relief headquarters.
The ongoing rainstorms have caused many small and medium-sized water reservoirs to swell and many are on the verge of overflowing, meteorologists said.
The temperature in Hunan will climb to 29 C and meteorologists said the rain would not ease until Sunday.
About 140,000 people in the province have been relocated since Wednesday, including students whose schools were flooded, the local Sanxiang City Express reported.
About 180 students and teachers were evacuated Thursday morning when landslides caused by rainstorms hit their teaching building.
No causalities were reported, it said, citing an official from the local education authority.
One person was killed in a land
slide during the second heavy rainfall that began on May 12, Xinhua said.
The flood turned Xupu county into an isolated island, damaging the only bridge linking the county to the outside area. It stranded 8,000 people.
The local fire department purchased a 1 million yuan ($146,441) Italian-made hovercraft, capable of traveling over land and water, to help rescue people, the newspaper said.
Guangdong reported one person was missing and more than 35,000 people were displaced by the heavy rains, according to Xinhua.
Li Fuliang, a resident in Guangdong who lives on the first floor, told the Global Times Monday that his water-soaked furniture now reeks. He said his family has to bail water from his home every day.
"If it continues to rain like this, I'm afraid one day when I come back from work I would see my sofa floating in the living room," he said.
A total of 86 people were killed and 16 are missing across 10 provinces as of Wednesday.
Over 275,000 people in the southern provinces were relocated.
They experienced economic losses of at least 5.9 billion yuan ($ 864 million), accord-ing to the Ministry of Water Resources.
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