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Heavy rain leaves 13 dead, 2 missing in China

14 June 2019 08:56 (UTC +04:00)

A total of 13 people were killed and two were still missing as of 2:00 p.m. Thursday as torrential downpours destroyed roads and toppled houses in southern China's Guangdong Province, APA reports citing Xinhua.

The city of Heyuan is among the worst-hit regions in the latest round of rainstorms that have persisted for over a week. More than 280,000 people were affected and over 4,000 houses collapsed, according to the local publicity department.

Local authorities have sent 7100 quilts, 450 tents, 400 folding beds and other disaster relief supplies to Heyuan. Guangdong Power Grid Corporation said they had dispatched personnel and vehicles to restore electricity disrupted by the rain in Heyuan.

So far, power and water supplies and communication network have returned to most part of Heyuan.

The provincial meteorological authorities on Thursday predicted the rainfall would weaken starting Friday.

Heavy rain starting last week has hit a number of provinces in China's southern region, including Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Fujian and Jiangxi.

In the eastern province of Jiangxi, rain-triggered floods have affected more than 2.8 million people in nine cities and forced the evacuation of about 340,000 people as of 11:30 a.m. Thursday. The provincial emergency management department said houses of 1,065 families collapsed and 199,600 hectares of crops were damaged.