BEIJING - Torrential rain and landslides in China’s coastal provinces of Guangdong and Fujian have killed nine people and left 17 missing, state media and the local authorities said on June 17.
In Guangdong, five people were killed, 15 missing and 13 trapped as at June 17, local emergency management authorities said.
Sishui, a town in the province, logged 369.3mm of precipitation in 24 hours. The deluge prompted officials to raise emergency response levels, and dispatch helicopters to evacuate and deliver supplies to those affected.
Four people died and two went missing in neighbouring Fujian due to rainstorms that the provincial meteorological bureau classified as an “extreme event”, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Downpours in Fujian’s Wuping county since the afternoon of June 16 caused 378 homes to collapse and prompted the authorities to launch an emergency flood response.
Over the past few days, heavy rain has inundated the province, breaking a historical record in Wuping county. Economic losses in the county totalled 415 million yuan (S$77.4 million), state media reported.
Many parts of southern China have been impacted by rain over the past few days, prompting several localities to issue flood warnings and advisories.
In Jiangxi province, the average rainfall was 24mm between 8am on June 16 and 8am on June 17, with 288 weather stations in 56 counties recording considerable precipitation, state media said.
In Chongqing, torrential rain caused water levels of five rivers to rise by 1m to 3m, according to CCTV.
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