Flooding delays date with destiny for gaokao students

Bridge collapses

The local authorities said many workers were sent to deal with flooded streets, but Huang said he had not received any alert about the situation.

"Everybody now has a smartphone. Why not send us an alert by phone?" said the driver, whose home was quickly engulfed by floodwaters.

Many other areas were affected by the flooding. A 484-year-old bridge in Shexian county, collapsed on Tuesday morning, but there were no casualties.

Some 500 gaokao candidates in Huangmei county in neighboring Hubei province nearly missed taking the third exam in the gaokao on Wednesday morning, as they were trapped by flooding on the campus where they live.

Huangmei police said the students, from Huaning Senior High School, were unable to leave the campus for the examination sites at about 7 am.

Rescue workers quickly arrived to help them, but many of the students failed to reach the sites before the scheduled time of 9 am, according to the Huangmei government.

On Tuesday, the first day of the gaokao, more than 200 millimeters of rain fell in the county－a record, local authorities said.

They added that when they finally reached the site, students who had been delayed were given the standard time of two and a half hours to finish their morning exam.