10 dead and 18 missing as historic rainfall causes devastating flooding in Baoding
The photo depicts a street in Zhuozhou on August 3, after the heavy rains have subsided. Rescue and resettlement efforts in the area are ongoing.
Ten people have died and 18 remained missing in north China's Baoding City as rains from Typhoon "Dusuire" unleashed havoc, city authorities said.
The deluge saw an average rainfall of 353.1 millimeters in the city, with a record-breaking daily downpour of 419.7 millimeters – the highest ever recorded in history,
In Baoding, heavy rainfall caused 67 out of its 83 smaller reservoirs to overflow. More than 4,000 houses collapsed.
On Saturday, water levels in Baoding's Zhuozhou to the southwest of Beijing began to drop, with search and rescue and flood drainage efforts continuing in Hebei province's hardest-hit city, according to state media.
Around 100,000 people – a sixth of its population – have been evacuated.
Nearly 300 bridges and over 550 km (340 miles) of rural roads have been damaged by water, the government said, with Baoding's direct economic losses reaching nearly 17 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion) as of Saturday.
Around 1.54 million people had been evacuated from at-risk areas in north China's Hebei province as of Saturday morning, Xinhua reported.
Floodwaters could take up to a month to recede in Hebei province, a water resources department official said.
On Saturday authorities of Bazhou city in Hebei expressed "heartfelt thanks" to residents for evacuating their homes in an area where floodwaters had been diverted for storage, and said a review for disaster compensation for damaged agricultural production and housing would take place when the flood recedes.
Rescue teams move victims in Zhuozhou, Hebei province, August 4.
Meanwhile, floodwater continued to deluge farms and cities in northeast China on Saturday, while authorities in other parts of the country struggled to deal with the aftermath of one of the strongest storms in years.
Almost 15,000 residents were moved out of the city of Shulan in corn-growing Jilin province, where one person died and four were missing, according to state media.
Rain has fallen continuously in Shulan since August 1, with some areas getting 489 mm, five times the previous record. Bridges collapsed and roads were damaged across the city, state media reported.
Xinhua showed images of waterlogged streets around factories and homes in Shulan, a city of more than 700,000.
Some roads and farmland in Shulan, Jilin Province, are hit by flooding.
The impact of typhoons is rare in China's northeast, with most typhoons moving west or northwest after making landfall, meteorological experts say.
The record-breaking rains arrived in late July as the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri moved inland, battering northern China and causing massive floods, disrupting the lives of millions.
?
