Relief efforts underway as south China affected by heavy rainfall

Torrential rainfall across southern parts of China has caused severe flooding and landslides, with heavy precipitation set to continue through the week as local authorities respond to the impact.

The National Meteorological Center renewed a yellow alert for rainstorms across parts of Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Guangdong for Wednesday and Thursday.

China has a four-tier, color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Days of heavy rain have seen water levels surpass the flood warning mark at many hydrological monitoring stations in China's southern regions.

The water level in one river in Ji'an County in east China's Jiangxi Province reached 67.29 meters, exceeding the warning level by 2.29 meters, causing flooding in farmlands and houses in low-lying areas.

Local rescue forces were dispatched immediately to evacuate stranded residents and support flood drainage efforts.

Water levels in 35 rivers and at 60 hydrological monitoring stations in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were still above the flood warning mark early on Wednesday afternoon. Local authorities have prepared flood relief supplies in advance and also strengthened inspections of flood control infrastructure.

The pouring rain, which started last Sunday, has affected nearly 4,000 people in Sanhe Town in southwest China's Guizhou Province. A letup in the rain on Wednesday allowed rescue teams to clear roads and check driving conditions.

In parts of Longyan City in east China's Fujian Province, which has been battered by rain since Saturday, roads are reopening, and water, power and communication services have been restored.

Inundated by heavy rain, parts of several roads collapsed in central China's Hunan Province and south China's Guangdong Province, with repairs ongoing.

A rescue team was able to deliver relief supplies to residents in Guangdong's Shexi Village on Tuesday after navigating flood waters, landslides and collapsed roads on foot to reach the village, which had been cut off from water or power supplies for several days.

By late Wednesday, power supplies had been restored to more than 90 percent of the 414,000 households in Guangdong that were cut off due to the extreme weather.

In response to the severe flood in Guangdong, the national disaster relief emergency response was raised to level III on Thursday from level IV previously.

China has a four-tier emergency response system for flood control, with level I being the most severe response scenario.

Chinese authorities have allocated 916 million yuan (about $126 million) to flood and drought response work in the country's southern and northern regions and to support disaster relief efforts, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.

The figure includes 499 million yuan to support flood control, relief efforts and safety measures in Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei, and a total of 417 million yuan is being provided to support Hebei, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi and Gansu in their water conservancy and drought relief efforts.

(Cover: Trees destroyed by floods in Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, south China, June 19, 2024. /CFP)