Torrential rain in southern China spawned flooding and mudslides that killed at least 21 people and caused rivers to burst their banks, according to state-run media.
Parts of China's Guangxi and Hunan provinces picked up 8 to 20 inches of rain in seven days ending July 1, according to a NOAA CPC analysis, said weather.com meteorologist Jon Erdman.
At least 16 people were killed and 10 are missing in the Guangxi region of China as of Sunday, Xinhuanet reports. Roughly 600 homes collapsed and another 6,500 were damaged after flooding inundated thousands of acres of land. More than 90,000 were forced from their homes in Guangxi since Saturday.
Rainfall also triggered disaster Saturday in nearby Hunan province when a mudslide killed five people and left another four missing, AFP reports. More than 300,000 people have been forced to evacuate across the province since the torrential rainfall began on June 22, Xinhua reports. The flooding and landslides have destroyed more than 6,000 homes there.
More than 60 rivers in southern China surpassed warning levels as of Sunday, according to Reuters.
The Xiangjiang River exceeded its record flood level in Changsha, Hunan’s capital, according to Xinhuanet. The major tributary of the Yangtze River inundated homes and roads, uprooted trees and damaged cars.
By 6:30 a.m. local time, the water’s level reached 129 feet, beating the previous record of 128 feet set in 1998. The water is already 10 feet above warning level and is expected to rise as heavy rain continues.
Precautions are being taken throughout the area to lessen the blow of the flooding.
Hundreds of city officials and residents in the Yuhua district worked overnight Saturday to build a wall of 65,000 sandbags in an effort to keep water from streaming into the city, Xinhuanet reports. In Shaoyang, Yiyang and Huaihua, more than 2,000 paramilitary police assisted locals with repairing damaged dikes and evacuated more than 7,000 people.
A widespread blackout was reported in Guangxi, Reuters reports. Power was restored to half of the affected area by the morning.
As with the mudslides and floods in Sri Lanka that killed over 200 people that hardly anyone on PotD cared about back in May, apparently the same goes for China and the 50 people, so far, that died from floods and mudslides.
At least 56 people have been killed and an additional 22 have been reported missing as torrential rains triggered massive flooding in southern China. Entire towns have been flooded, halting traffic and resulting in power outages, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs said Tuesday.
Nearly 20 inches of rain has been dropped on a number of cities dating back to Thursday, including the scenic resort city of Guilin in the Guangxi region.
More than 11 million people in 11 southern provinces were affected by floods, landslides and hailstorms, the ministry said. Rivers have broken their banks, inundating surrounding communities.
The ministry said water levels in major rivers and lakes in the southern province of Hunan have surged to alarming levels, and that the collapse of levees forced large-scale evacuations.
Dozens of flights at several airports serving major cities in the region including Chengdu, Changsha, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen were canceled or delayed, stranding thousands of travelers. Chengdu's airport was shut down for more than an hour Monday because of rain, forcing 13 incoming flights to land elsewhere, according to state media reports.
Trains also were halted, and roads were cut off to many towns and villages in the region. Television footage showed major flooding in cities, where the lower floors of homes and shops have been submerged.
The national meteorological center forecast more rain to come later this week in southern China.
