Scores dead across northern China in wide scale flooding

Scores dead across northern China in wide scale flooding
by AFP Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Aug 6, 2023

Six people are dead and four are missing after torrential rain hit China's northeastern Jilin province, state media reported Sunday, the latest fatalities from more than a week of weather-related disasters across the country.

China has been hit with record heavy rains in recent weeks, with Beijing saying Friday that natural disasters had caused 147 deaths or disappearances last month.

And a further six dead and four were missing after heavy rain in the northeastern city of Shulan, state news agency Xinhua reported Sunday, citing local authorities.

Heavy rains in the area had now "basically ended", Xinhua said, with almost 19,000 evacuated and 21 "temporary relocation facilities" set up.

Torrential rain brought on in the aftermath of Storm Doksuri, which hit mainland China as a typhoon before veering northwards, is the most severe recorded in 140 years, when records began.

Clean-up operations are ongoing after the overwhelming rainfall, which destroyed infrastructure and flooded entire districts.

State broadcaster CCTV broadcast video of recovery efforts in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, showing villagers using shovels to clear muddy water from buildings.

Millions of people have been hit by extreme weather events and prolonged heatwaves around the globe in recent weeks, events that scientists say are being exacerbated by climate change.

Officials in China said Saturday that at least 10 people had been killed in floods in a city in Hebei province, one of the most affected by the rains, where more than 1.5 million people have been evacuated.

A red alert remained in force in Beijing as of midday Sunday due to "geological risks" such as landslides linked to the bad weather.

Death toll rises to 30 in northern China floods
Beijing (AFP) Aug 5, 2023 - At least 10 people were killed in floods in a city near Beijing, officials said Saturday, bringing the death toll from recent torrential rains in northern China to at least 30.

Officials reported the deaths in Baoding, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Beijing, adding that 18 people were missing.

Storm Doksuri, a former super typhoon that hit mainland China last Friday, has brought the most severe rains to the region since records began 140 years ago.

By noon Saturday (0400 GMT), more than 600,000 of Baoding's 11.5 million residents had been evacuated from areas deemed to be at risk, officials said.

The torrential rain that hit northeast China on Saturday battered the provinces bordering Russia and North Korea.

A red alert remains in force in Beijing due to "geological risks" such as landslides linked to the bad weather.

Clean-up operations are ongoing after the overwhelming rainfall, which destroyed infrastructure and flooded entire districts.

China has been hit hard by extreme weather in recent months, from record-breaking heatwaves to deadly flooding.

Natural disasters caused 147 deaths or disappearances last month, China said Friday, after the heaviest rains since records began hit the country's capital.

China's Ministry of Emergency Management said 142 of the deaths or disappearances recorded in July were caused by flooding or geological disasters.

- Streets became rivers -

Dramatic aerial photographs taken by AFP of Zhuozhou on Wednesday showed shopping streets turned into rivers of brown water, while others showed farmland in the surrounding areas completely submerged and floodwater stretching for miles.

AFP saw rescuers using boats to ferry instant noodles, bread and drinking water to residents who could not or did not want to leave properties engulfed by water.

Millions of people have been hit by extreme weather events and prolonged heatwaves around the globe in recent weeks, events that scientists say are being exacerbated by climate change.

Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based NGO the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said that while the typhoon had brought the rain, rising ocean temperatures due to climate change were also causing the extreme weather.

"China has suffered unprecedented extreme heatwaves since last year... This year, there are record-breaking high temperatures in Northern China," Ma told AFP this week.

"These heatwaves are linked to global warming, and this is what most climate scientists around the world tend to agree," he said.