South China Hit With Deadly Floods After Record Rainfall Levels

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Massive floods in south China’s Guangdong province have killed at least four people since the region began to be battered by record levels of rainfall last week, ITV News reports.

Weather experts had warned that the Beijiang River Basin was set to experience a once-in-50-year flood peak, but the flooding has surpassed that expectation to reach a near-centennial event. Guangdong saw 411 flood warnings from Apr. 19-21.

China’s Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters has raised the flood emergency response warning for Guangdong province from Level IV to Level III, with heavy rainfall expected to continue through Tuesday evening, the Times of India reported.

In addition to the four confirmed dead, 10 people are missing in Zhaoqing and Shaquan in Guangdong province, ITV said. A total of 110,000 people were evacuated, and many have seen their livelihoods destroyed: “My rice fields are fully flooded, my fields are gone,” Huang Jingrong, from Qingyuan, told Reuters.

The state agency Xinhua announced that 45 rivers and 66 hydrologic stations in Guangdong province reported water levels had exceeded the alert threshold, the Times of India said. Five warehouses have been made ready with around $15 million of supplies to assist residents, ITV reports.

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