Heavy rain deepens misery for Chinese

WEATHER-BORNE misery continues in China and heavy rains have killed at least another 51 people, adding to the more than 2,000 who have died in flooding and landslides in China so far this year.

Disastrous summer floods are a feature of life in China, but this year has been particularly severe. There are fears of fresh mudslides, which could undo some of the work already done to shore up previous damage.

Storms in Longnan, in poor and remote Gansu province, killed 36, left 23 missing and prompted the evacuation of more than 120,000 because of landslides and rising rivers, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The evacuation is part of a rescue plan that calls on residents in mudslide-prone areas to leave if, as expected, heavy rainfall hits the region. The latest flooding left 295 injured and more than 6,000 homes collapsed. Flooding has cut off electricity and damaged roads.

The neighbouring district of Zhouqu was inundated this month by an avalanche of mud following freakishly strong downpours. The death toll has now risen to 1,254, with hundreds still unaccounted for. And there is more rain expected in Zhouqu over the next few days, Xinhua said.

The local rescue authority has started removing some of the tents built in the area, and ordered all cars out of the area. According to the weather bureau in the Gannan region, a largely Tibetan area in Gansu province in China’s far west, rains could last for five days and precipitation in some regions may reach 60 to 80mm.