Xi calls for all-out flood rescue efforts as storms hit southern China

The task of controlling floods in China is becoming increasingly daunting, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday, calling for every effort to protect lives and property as severe storms batter provinces from inland to the country’s east coast.

About a dozen people have been killed in floods or rain-triggered landslides in recent days, as the annual flood season in China’s southern provinces is in full swing.

In the city of Meizhou, Guangdong province, low-rise buildings leaned dangerously on sloping ground next to rushing rivers, or were half-submerged as floodwaters overflowed the banks, videos on social media showed.

In Guangdong province, at least five people died and 13 were trapped by flash floods and landslides, with more than 1,400 houses collapsed and 8,000 hectares of crops damaged, according to state media.

Xinhua said Xi called for all efforts to fight floods in the south of the country, calling for all possible efforts to rescue missing and trapped people.

Deaths during China’s annual summer floods have fallen sharply from the thousands that occurred annually in the 1990s, as authorities have stepped up flood control measures, such as building dams.

However, extreme weather conditions in recent years, including record rainfall, have made China vulnerable to intense flooding and disasters such as flash landslides, often in its mountainous but populated areas.

Source: Terra

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