At Least 67 Dead, 56 Missing As Rainy Season Hits China With A Vengeance

SINODAILY

Chinese villager carries his son across a makeshift bridge as they make their way to higher grounds in Xinshao, central China's Hunan province 02 June 2005. Torrential rains and mountain torrents have left at least 47 people dead and 50 missing in central China, while around 100,000 people have been moved from affected villages in mountainous areas of Hunan province, and at least 3,500 buildings have collapsed, injuring many who were sleeping inside. AFP Photo

Beijing (AFP) Jun 02, 2005
Torrential rains and mountain torrents have left at least 67 people dead and 56 missing in central and western China, state media said Thursday as rescuers rushed to evacuate people and ferry in supplies.

Around 100,000 people have been moved from affected villages in mountainous areas of central China's Hunan province, local officials said.

At least 30,000 buildings have collapsed in Hunan and the western provinces of Guizhou and Sichuan, injuring many who were sleeping inside as the rainy season arrived with a vengeance.

The death toll rose throughout the day with the Hunan's Shaoyang Municipal Headquarters for Flood Control and Drought Relief saying late Thursday it stood at 47 dead with 50 missing, Xinhua news agency reported.

State radio reported 17 deaths in Guizhou and three deaths and six people missing in Sichuan, without elaboration.

"Local civil affairs departments have dispatched rice, clean water and other relief materials to affected people. The worst hit area is Xinshao county," State Civil Affairs Ministry official Fang Zhiyong told AFP.

The rainstorms triggered mountain torrents in about 60 villages in six townships in Xinshao and Shaodong counties.

Many people in Xinshao were injured by buildings that crumbled as the gushing streams of water hit. Medicine was desperately needed.

"Around 3,500 buildings collapsed in this county alone," Shen Guirong, director of the propaganda department in Xinshao district, told AFP.

"Telecommunications, transportation and water supplies are not working. It will take time to restore them.

"We need medicine to treat those who are injured. They were hurt when the buildings collapsed. We don't know how many are injured, we are still gathering details."

Officials in the county were later ordered not to speak with foreign media.

"We fear talking about this with the foreign media," said Shen, citing warnings by provincial leaders who had arrived at the scene.

At least 24 cities and counties in the province have been pounded by torrential rains since May 30. Xinhua news agency reported Thursday that more than five centimetres (two inches) of rain had fallen on Hunan in the past 24 hours.

Taizhimiao village in Xinshao county was one of the worst hit and more than 400 villagers were stranded there with bridges and roads all destroyed by floods, Xinhua said.

The local government was trying to erect a temporary bridge to rescue the stranded villagers.

Two township officials died when their vehicle was washed away by flood waters as they were organising rescue work, The Beijing News reported. Seven people were in the vehicle and only one escaped, it said.

The newspaper identified the officials as Tang Fei, the township's chief executive, and Li Yinghui, the local vice secretary of the communist party.

Thousands of people perish every year from floods, landslides and mudflows in China, with millions left homeless, but officials have warned this year could be worse than usual.

A top official at the China Meteorological Administration, Qin Dahe, warned last month of an "apocalyptic" summer of severe drought and floods.

"China may face a grim situation from seasonal floods or drought this year with potential damage worse than that of last year," he said.

The China Daily, citing Qin, reported Thursday that two massive rain belts were predicted from the south along the Yangtze River to the north on the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River.

Minister of Water Resources Wang Shucheng urged local governments in flood-prone areas to get anti-flood precautionary schemes ready and prepare for the worst. The flood season officially began in China Wednesday.

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SINODAILY

At Least 36 Dead, 42 Missing In Central China Rains

Beijing (AFP) Jun 01, 2005
Torrential rains and mountain torrents have left at least 36 people dead and 42 missing in central China, local officials said Thursday as rescuers worked to evacuate people and ferry in supplies.