BEIJING (Reuters) – Torrential rain and flooding in China’s southern Hunan province has killed four people and prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents, Chinese state media said on Tuesday, as remnants of the now weakened Typhoon Gaemi continue to lash the country.
The province has been particularly hard-hit by several days of heavy rain which has breached major dikes and dams, and flooded large swathes of crop land, according to state media.
In Zixing county, almost 90,000 people have been affected by the extreme weather which has damaged some 1,400 homes and led to the collapse of about 1,300 roads, the People’s Daily website reported. Several villages have also lost power.
Meteorological experts said the combination of a weather system from the typhoon, which has been downgraded, and a southwest monsoon has created conditions for heavy rain and high-humidity, according to Beijing News.
In the past two days, rainfall led to the Juanshui river levels to rise, breaching three dikes, the Xinhua news agency reported. One of the dikes was successfully sealed on Monday.
The Juanshui flows into the Xiangjiang river, a major tributary of the Yangtze River, and it saw record-high flooding in some parts, according to People’s Daily.
On Sunday, 15 people were killed from a rain-triggered landslide that washed away houses in Hunan, state media reported. Heavy rains have also hit several other provinces, which had issued warnings and enforced emergency planning.
China’s government met last week to discuss measures to combat the flooding from the heavy rains. China has already released at least 6.67 billion yuan ($918 million) in emergency disaster relief funds, according to Reuters calculations.
($1 = 7.2644 yuan)
(Reporting by Bernard Orr and Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
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