Raging Rainstorms/Floods hit China
Pastor Dale Morgan
Raging Rainstorms/Floods hit China*
2008-07-02
BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Torrential rains have hit about half of
China since Tuesday, leaving one dead, four injured and nearly 400,000
affected.
The rain also caused blocked traffic in cities, delayed flights,
destroyed homes, flooded farmland and threatened flooding in river
areas, mainly south of the Yangtze River.
The casualties were reported in Shanghai, where a two-story building
collapsed on Wednesday afternoon at a construction site and five
construction workers were buried in debris.
Rescuers sent the workers to local hospital, but one of them Yue
Hongbo, from central China's Henan Province, died later. Doctors said
the other four were not in danger.
Police said heavy rain and strong winds led to the accident.
The atrocious weather also caused an hour-long power cut on the
railway linking Shanghai and neighboring Hangzhou, leaving trains from
Shanghai railway station delayed.
Shanghai's neighbors, Zhejiang and Anhui, both issued heavy rain
warnings on Wednesday, telling local authorities to prepare for possible
flooding and disasters and to strengthen patrols along dams and reservoirs.
Seven counties and cities in the central Hubei Province reported
more than 395,900 people affected and 35,580 hectares of crops damaged.
Long Limin, chief expert with the provincial observatory, said the
rainfall in Zhongxiang, Jingshan, Huangpi, Macheng, Hong'an, Xiaochang,
Dawu all exceeded 100 millimeters with the maximum at 247 millimeters.
Macheng City, the worst-stricken area, received an average of 164
millimeters of rain in five hours on Wednesday, the most in 17years.
The city's civil affairs bureau said more than 350,000 people were
affected and 19,850 hectares of farmland flooded, leaving losses worth
16.55 million yuan (2.41 million U.S. dollars).
Downtown areas in the southwestern city of Kunming, capital of
Yunnan Province, were almost all flooded with up to a meter of water in
places after a six-hour rainstorm over Tuesday night.
The city's traffic was seriously disrupted and many people
complained they were late for work as the major avenues were all under
water.
More seriously, some junior high students were late for the annual
entrance examination to senior high school, which began on Wednesday,
but local education authorities allowed latecomers to be given extra time.
The city's international airport was also closed on Tuesday morning
as the runways were waist-deep in water. As of 7 p.m., more than 150
flights were delayed and more than 3,500 passengers were stranded.
More than 20 flights to Kunming had to land in the neighboring
municipality of Chongqing instead.
The airport reopened at 5 p.m. and flights to Beijing and Shanghai
took off. However, at 8 p.m., more than 1,000 passengers waiting still
stranded.
More rain was forecast in the next two days and the China
Meteorological Administration asked local governments to prepare.