More than 23,000 people have been forced to evacuate after heavy
downpour hit a peninsula on the southern tip of south China's
Guangdong Province, a spokesman with the provincial flood control
headquarters said Saturday.
A violent downpour started to hit the Leizhou peninsula on
Thursday and continued to pelt the area until 1:00 p.m. Saturday.
The Tangjia Township in Leizhou City, which was worst hit, received
739 millimeters of precipitation in 24 hours, the heaviest rainfall
in 200 years.
The rainfall pushed water levels at two hydrological stations in
Leizhou to new records, and fed five reservoirs in the neighboring
Zhanjiang City to warning marks.
The Dawan reservoir in Zhanjiang had been threatened with two
overflow risks, and local flood fighters had to dig spillways to
bring the water level down.
The headquarters sent 35 militiamen to help people in Leizhou
relocate on Friday evening and Saturday morning, and summoned six
hydrological experts to direct flood fight work at the
reservoirs.
They also called 500 soldiers from the Chinese People's
Liberation Army stationed in the province to help fight the flood.
The State Flood Control Office has sent a team of experts to the
area.
Weather forecast said more cloudburst are expected on the
peninsula Saturday night, and the province will see more rainfalls
in the coming three days.
Meanwhile, more than 700 workers are repairing the rails on a
section of Yuehai Railway, China's first cross-strait railway
linking Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, to Haikou on the island
province of Hainan. The railway was destroyed by torrential
currents which inundated the rail-bed and distorted rails.
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2007)
