Rivers in south-west China breach warning levels, with thousands evacuated
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
An excavator clearing the road in Taiping, Henan province, on July 2.
PHOTO: EPA
Follow topic:
BEIJING – The levels of 25 rivers in south-western China exceeded safe levels on July 10, after more than 10,000 people were evacuated as the remnants of Tropical Storm Danas converged with East Asian monsoon rain.
Extreme rainfall and severe flooding, which meteorologists link to climate change, increasingly pose major challenges as they threaten to overwhelm ageing flood defences, displace millions and wreak havoc on a US$2.8 trillion (S$3.6 trillion) agricultural sector.
Heavy rain also hit the capital Beijing, with one area in the sprawling Chaoyang district receiving 68.2mm of rain in a single hour early on July 10, the state-run Beijing Daily said.
Ten south-western rivers, including the Longyan – which flows through the densely populated region of Chongqing – could burst their embankments and levees at any time, broadcaster China Central Television warned, citing the Water Resources Ministry.
The remaining 15 exceeded levels at which they could burst their banks, but posed less of a risk, it added.
More than 24 hours of torrential rain took levels in the Chishui River of Guizhou province to their highest since records began in 1953, the broadcaster said, while the Xiaocao River in Sichuan province stood at its highest in 29 years.
More than 10,000 people were evacuated on July 9 from cities in the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan, as the East Asian monsoon rain pushed north from India.
One county in Yunnan recorded 227.8mm of rainfall in 24 hours, for its highest total in a single day since records began in 1958.
Beijing health authorities warned that the combination of frequent downpours, high temperatures and humidity swells the risk of water and food contamination. REUTERS
