At least 7 dead after heavy rain in central China

30 July, Kathmandu : At least seven people have been confirmed dead and three others remain missing after intense rain triggered flash floods and mudflows in central China’s Hunan Province, local authorities said Tuesday.

Among the dead are three villagers from Yongxing County in the city of Chenzhou. A rain-triggered mudflow claimed their lives after they went missing last Wednesday while patrolling the mountains, according to the county’s emergency management bureau.

The other four deaths and three missing persons were reported in four villages in the city of Zixing, which has experienced record precipitation since Friday, with one location recording over 645 mm of rain in just 24 hours.

Heavy rainstorms in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi have wreaked havoc across Hunan. In Xiangtan County, three dike breaches occurred in the Juanshui River in the past few days, prompting the evacuation of thousands of residents.

In Zixing, the rain has toppled or damaged the homes of 867 households and caused 1,345 road cave-ins. Officials said that communications with many villages were disrupted, hindering timely updates on the situation.

The city has dispatched more than 5,400 rescuers. A total of 11,379 people have been evacuated for safety, said the city’s flood control and drought relief headquarters.

On Tuesday morning, volunteers were seen loading bottled water, rice and cooking oil onto a helicopter parked on the sports ground of Zixing No.1 Middle School.

Since Monday, helicopters have been taking off from the school to air-drop supplies to disaster-hit areas where rain-triggered landslides have disrupted road traffic and telecommunications.

“These supplies are urgently needed in disaster-hit areas, so we continued flying,” said Ou Deqing, board chairman of a Hunan-based general aviation company whose helicopters joined the relief efforts.

As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, helicopters have made 101 trips to evacuate residents and deliver 20.9 tonnes of materials to 28 villages in Zixing, according to the headquarters.

China’s meteorological authorities on Monday issued an orange alert for rainstorms, the second-highest level in its four-tier warning system, across parts of the country.

Heavy rain is expected in regions including the Chinese capital Beijing and neighboring Hebei and Tianjin, as well as Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan, on Monday and Tuesday, according to the National Meteorological Center.