RAIN LASHES NATION’S SOUTH, PROMPTING SECOND FLOOD ALERT IN AS MANY DAYS
Parts of southern China continued to be battered by heavy downpours over the weekend, with rainstorm and flood alerts issued for a second straight day.
The Bei, a tributary of the Pearl River in Guangdong province, was declared as having recorded its first “No 1 flood” of the year at 6.35am yesterday – marking the earliest numbered flood in a major river since data began to be compiled in 1998. China has seven main river systems, including the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, as well as the southern Pearl River and waterways further north.
According to the Ministry of Water Resources, the nation’s major rivers and lakes can flag “numbered floods” when their water levels reach the warning level or register a flood of “once in two to five years” magnitude.
By 9am yesterday, the water level at the local measuring station in Guangdong’s Yingde county, which lies along the banks of the Bei, had risen 4.07 metres above the warning level. The ensuing floods submerged buildings and shops in the county.
The Ministry of Water Resources in Beijing launched a level 4 emergency response and sent a working group to Guangdong for inspection and guidance. China has a four-tier flood-control emergency response system, with level 1 the most severe.
Guangdong’s flood and drought disaster prevention department said 832 people had been evacuated to safer ground by noon yesterday, the first day after a three-day break for the Ching Ming Festival. Schools and businesses were operating as normal, with commodity prices stable and people going about their day as usual, the department added.
The Ching Ming or “tomb sweeping” holiday that started on Thursday saw Guangdong enter its first flood season of the year.
Waterlogging following heavy rainfall – which broke records in some areas – caused some railway and highway operations to be suspended, and more than a thousand people were relocated in multiple cities across the province. No casualties were reported.
Xinlu Liang