Five missing, more than 7,000 evacuated amid heavy rainfall in China

Kunming, July 9 (IANS) Five people have been reported missing after torrential rain hit Zhaotong, a mountainous city in southwest China's Yunnan Province, local authorities said Wednesday.

Sustained heavy downpours have battered large parts of Zhaotong since Tuesday morning, wreaking havoc in several counties under the city's administration.

Two houses in Luobu Township, Weixin County, were swept away, leaving five people unaccounted for, according to a preliminary report. Search and rescue operations are underway.

Zhaotong authorities have launched all-out rescue and disaster relief efforts -- evacuating over 7,000 people to safety as of 2 p.m. Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier in the day, a rain-triggered landslide buried a house in Shizhuang Village, Xuyong County in southwest China's Sichuan Province, leaving five people missing, according to local authorities.

Heavy rainfall hit Zhengdong Township, Xuyong County, from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning. The county government reported that 24 residents near the landslide area have been relocated.

Search and rescue operations for the missing are underway.

Personnel from local emergency management and healthcare departments, as well as geological experts, fire and rescue teams, and local disaster relief forces, have been mobilised to the site.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Chongqing Municipality has also been battered by severe downpours since Tuesday, with over 100 rainfall stations recording 24-hour precipitation levels classified as extreme heavy rain and heavy rain, according to the municipal meteorological and emergency management departments.

Moderate to heavy rain is expected to persist in central and western Chongqing on Wednesday, with isolated torrential showers. Authorities have warned that water levels in some rivers across the region may rise in the coming days, with certain areas facing the risk of exceeding flood alert thresholds.

China's Ministry of Water Resources activated a Level-IV emergency response to flooding in south China's Guangdong Province, hindered by the impact of Typhoon Danas.

The ministry forecasts that from Wednesday to Friday, heavy to torrential rain will hit Guangdong, with extremely heavy rain in the north and east and significant rises in water levels in certain rivers.

The ministry urged local departments to closely monitor weather changes, improve rainfall and water condition predictions and forecasts, and scientifically implement flood control measures for water projects.

So far, it has maintained a Level-IV emergency response for flood control in Zhejiang, Fujian, Chongqing and Sichuan, and working groups from the ministry are guiding the prevention and control of floods in Zhejiang, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Shaanxi.

--IANS

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