Flooding in Southwest China’s Guizhou Province claims 6 lives

Continuous heavy rainfall that has triggered severe flooding in Southwest China’s Guizhou Province since Tuesday has claimed six lives in Rongjiang county as of 11 am on Thursday, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

According to the country’s flood control headquarters, the water levels of the Duliu, Pingyong and Zhaihao rivers rose rapidly, with peak flow reaching 11,360 cubic meters per second. Many low-lying areas in the county were submerged and basic infrastructure in some towns was severely damaged, leading to traffic disruptions, outage of telecommunications and some residents being stranded. 

At present, the water level in the county has receded below the warning level. A series of efforts including clearing silt and draining floodwaters, epidemic prevention and disinfection, post-disaster recovery and reconstruction, and searching for trapped individuals are underway, Xinhua reported.

The flood control and drought relief headquarters said on Tuesday that persistent rainfall, combined with rising upstream water, had driven the Duliu, Pingyong and Zhaihao rivers past the “once-in-30-years” flood threshold. 

Severe flooding triggered by continuous heavy rainfall and upstream inflows have prompted mass evacuations in Rongjiang and Congjiang counties of Guizhou. As of 2:30 pm on Tuesday, 48,900 residents had been temporarily evacuated in Rongjiang and 32,000 in Congjiang. The flood control emergency response had been escalated to level I, the highest, in both counties, Xinhua reported. 

Also in Guizhou, rain-triggered landslides caused the collapse of part of a bridge on an expressway in the county of Sandu. No casualties have been reported so far, according to Xinhua.

Heavy rainfall is expected to continue in Guizhou on Thursday, with some areas experiencing heavy to torrential rain and localized regions seeing extremely heavy downpours, according to Weather.com.cn. The rainfall is forecast to weaken on Friday, though torrential rain may still occur in certain areas. 

The provincial meteorological department has warned that persistent and locally intense rainfall on Thursday and Friday may trigger secondary disasters such as flash floods, landslides, mudslides and structural collapses, Weather.com.cn reported.