Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Another round of downpours put more pressure on Guangxi

CCTV: Flood waters in south China's Guangdong province have been slowly receding. Meanwhile, there's been another round of downpours in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, putting more pressure on local disaster relief efforts. Flood peaks from two major rivers, Xijiang and Beijiang, have converged into the Pearl River in Guangdong Province, and run into the sea. Water levels in the Pearl River reduced below danger levels on Tuesday.

In Guangdong, PLA soldiers have worked alongside local police and residents. They have blocked flooding water from seeping through river embankments and ensured the flood peaks passed relatively smoothly. The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region suffered another round of heavy rain on Tuesday. Local officials say more than 200 roads have been damaged and the continuous downpour has also threatened a local reservoir. Since the 6th of June, rainstorms and floods have ravaged the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guizhou and Yunnan and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Authorities say heavy rainfalls have killed 63 people and injured 13 others. 25 million have been affected in nine provinces throughout China. Thousands of houses have been torn down and farmlands ruined. The economic losses are estimated at 14.5 billion yuan, or 2 billion US dollars.

The Lijiang River in Guangxi province, China. Photo by Fanghong, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation license, Version 1.2


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