Four Dead as Heavy Rains Pummel Central, Eastern China

AFP/APP

Beijing: Mountain floods in central China have killed four people and left one other missing, state media reported Monday, with torrential downpours expected to continue across much of the country in the coming days.

Record rainfall of 337.8 millimetres (13.3 inches) early Saturday morning at a town in hilly Hunan province led to “severe waterlogging”, state news agency Xinhua reported.

“As of Monday morning, four have been killed, with another missing.”

The report came after state media said Sunday that heavy rains elsewhere in the province caused a landslide that ripped through village homes, killing eight people.

Continuous heavy rain is forecast until Thursday in several provinces across central, eastern and southern China, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said Monday.

It also issued a red alert — its highest-level warning — that “extremely heavy rains” could occur in parts of Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces until 2 pm (6 am GMT) on Tuesday.

Such areas could see 250-270 mm of rainfall, the NMC said.

Following days of persistent rain in Huangshan, a popular tourist city in eastern Anhui province, more than 54,000 people had been evacuated by mid-afternoon on Sunday, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The current round of heavy downpours in the area began on June 18, Xinhua said, adding that dozens of attractions had been closed.

China has been experiencing extreme weather conditions and unusually high temperatures in recent months.

Scientists say climate change driven by greenhouse gas emissions makes extreme weather events more frequent and intense.

China is the world’s biggest emitter, but has pledged to bring its carbon dioxide pollution to a peak by 2030 and to net zero by 2060.

Downpours last week in southern China’s densely populated Guangdong province sparked flooding and landslides that killed at least 38 people, state media said Friday.