Up to 900 000 people have been evacuated in southern China after the worst floods in almost a century killed more than 80 people and wreaked havoc on buildings and crops.
With torrential rains forecast to continue until the weekend, the death toll is expected to rise, as is the economic cost, which is currently estimated at 1,7-billion yuan ($208-million).
In the worst affected provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and Guangxi, television images showed hundreds of people sheltering on the third floor of office buildings and community halls as the muddy brown waters gushed through the lower levels and turned roads into rivers.
”The flood waters are enormous. They crashed down like a waterfall and submerged the whole city,” Liang Kongzheng, a government official in Wuzhou city, told the Associated Press.
According to the state flood control and drought relief headquarters, the Xijiang river, which runs through Wuzhou, rose nearly nine metres above the warning level, in the worst flooding on record.
As well as the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents, 1,6-million people have been affected.
More than 22 000 houses have been damaged, countless acres of farmland have been ruined, and numerous highways, dykes and bridges have been breached.
Doctors warned that water supplies could be polluted because the torrents have reportedly upturned lorries full of pesticide.
The central government has dispatched more than 2 000 troops to help with the flood control and relief efforts in Wuzhou and sent Guangxi 20-million yuan ($2,5-milion) in emergency funds and equipment, the Xinhua news agency said.
Recriminations have already begun. Local media reported that the chief of the Wuzhou water management bureau was fired on Wednesday for negligence in responding to the flood.
But new management is unlikely to make much of an impact in the short term. Meteorologists expect the deluge to continue for several more days. – Guardian Unlimited Â