Environment     

Heavy rains wreak havoc in China

Xinhua, July 11, 2012

• Continuous rains over the past few days have triggered floods and landslides in many parts of China, disrupting traffic and resulting in deaths.

  Staff members check the operation of the floodgates at the Erlang Dam in Ningqiang County, Hanzhong City of China's Shaanxi Province, July 9, 2012. [Xinhua]

  At least one person was killed and four others left missing in northwest China's Shaanxi Province after week-long rainstorms triggered mudslides and landslides Hanzhong City, the city government said Tuesday.

  Data from the provincial civil affairs department showed that rains have disrupted the lives of 530,000 people in 33 counties in the province since July 2, causing direct economic losses of 733 million yuan (115 million U.S. dollars).

  A local weather forecast said the rains would continue in the southern part of the province till Friday.

  In neighboring Sichuan Province, more than 2,500 people have been relocated after a rain-triggered mudslide blocked a river and formed a barrier lake.

  The barrier lake on the Heishui River in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture was formed late Monday following torrential rains, the prefecture government said.

  It is estimated that the barrier lake contains 400,000 cubic meters of water, posing risks for people located downstream. No casualties were reported after the mudslide, although contact has been lost with one person, the government said.

  Heavy rains have battered several areas in Sichuan Province since early July. The provincial weather bureau said the region would see more of the same till July 15.

  In the Tibet Autonomous Region, which borders Sichuan, a rain-triggered mudslide blocked highway traffic from Sichuan to Tibet on Monday.

  More than 150 vehicles were left stranded on the road after eight mudslides were spotted on a five-km section of highway in Mangkam County. Traffic police said it would take three days to resume traffic, as mudslides continued to occur in the area, hampering road repair efforts.

  Traffic on another highway in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region had been disrupted by a mudslide for 12 hours.

  The rain-triggered mudslide occurred at 10:10 p.m. on Monday on a section of National Highway 314 in Akto County in the Kezilesu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, Zhou Bing, a soldier working at the site, said.

  Military personnel, officials and highway maintenance workers have been making efforts to clear the road. One-way traffic on the blocked section of the highway resumed Tuesday morning.

  Heavy rains were also seen in east China's Shandong Province. As of Monday, more than 500 residents had been relocated. More than 300 houses were destroyed and another 300 were damaged, the provincial civil affairs department said.

  About 60,000 hectares of crops were damaged and direct economic losses reached 150 million yuan in the province as a result of the rains.

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