- Title: CHINA: Flood rescue as dyke suffers new breach
- Date: 24th June 2010
- Summary: FLOOD VICTIMS WALKING OFF
- Embargoed: 9th July 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- City:
- Country: China
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
- Reuters ID: LVAABL8PINSDJLL31WULE45BASOU
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Rescue boats ploughed through flooded Fuzhou city's streets on Wednesday (June 23) as a flood-battered dyke in southern China suffered a fresh breach after a week of heavy flooding that has killed nearly 200 people.
The Fu River in Jiangxi province first burst through the protective Changkai Dyke late on Monday (June 21) after days of torrential rain, threatening areas near the city of Fuzhou.
The river punched through the embankment again early on Wednesday, said the official Xinhua news agency, causing more residents to evacuate their homes.
"At around past 1 am last night, the water levels started to rise here, and it rose pretty quickly, almost 60 centimetres (23.6 inches) at once. The water is from the dyke that was breached," said 56-year-old flood victim Wu Guoliang.
Heavy rains across much of southern China over the last week have killed at least 199 people and left 123 missing, as rivers broke their banks and landslides severed road and rail links, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.
More than 2.38 million people have been evacuated, although many moved only short distances as they were unwilling to leave their homes.
"At first we did not want to come out, but they said there would be heavy rains coming in the next few days, so we decided to bring the children out here," said Xiong Feijie.
The floods have caused economic losses of around 42.12 billion yuan (6.20 billion U.S. dollars), with over 1.6 million hectares of farmland flooded and about 195,000 houses collapsing.
More than 15,000 people, including troops and police officers, were attempting to staunch the Changkai Dyke breach with sandbags and other material, official news reports said.
Nearly every year, parts of China endure deadly floods.
The National Meteorological Centre has warned that the current rains could keep pounding parts of the south until Saturday (June 26).
In parts of Fujian and Guangdong province more than 100 centimetres (39 inches) of rain has fallen in the past few days, state media said. More rain is forecast for the the rest of the week.
Worst hit were the provinces and regions of Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan, Guizhou and Guangxi. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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