Heavy rainfall affects nearly 100,000 in Central China

Early Tuesday morning, heavy downpours affected about 93,000 people in several counties of Xianning city of Central China's Hubei province, local authorities said.

Firefighters and armed police have helped some 8,220 trapped people get to safety. Some 141 houses collapsed and more than 15,200 hectares of crops were affected, according to the local government.

The direct economic loss soared to 201 million yuan ($32.4 million), including damage to water conservancy facilities, which cost 85 million yuan.

The heavy rain quickly caused water levels in small, medium and large reservoirs in the city to rise. Some 122 small reservoirs flooded, of which 13 were in Xian’an and 41 in Chibi.

The flood destroyed part of the No.106 state road within the domain of Chongyang county. Torrential flood waters tore through two parts of the banks of Huzhao River with 11 villages of Shicheng town and Guihuaquan town flooded, trapping some 7,600 villagers.

In six hours, this region received more than 100 mm of rain, and the Shirenquan reservoir received a maximum rainfall of 243.2 mm.

Firefighters and armed police have dispatched more than 130 people with six steamboats for the rescue work and so far all the 7,600 trapped residents in Chongyang County have been brought to safety.

More than 30 people with two excavators and three earth-moving machines were working against time on the dangerous banks to strengthen the dike. So far, the condition is under control.

Heavy rain accompanied by storms and strong wind was set to batter Southern China again on Tuesday and Wednesday following a brief respite, the National Meteorological Center said.

The rain and occasional thunderstorms were forecast to hit parts of Shanghai and Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hubei and Guizhou provinces, the forecasters said.

According to the center, in the past week, the rainfall that hit the southern part of China was as much as twice the normal rainfall in the same period in previous years.