There were grave fears on Wednesday about the fate of 36 police cadets still missing after a landslide killed 50 of their colleagues, as masses of people were evacuated from the worst floods in a decade swamping north China.
More than 7 000 soldiers, police and local residents were carrying out a search-and-rescue operation to find the young recruits who were swept away by torrents of mud that engulfed their training academy on Sunday.
The death of the trainees from the Fuzhou Command School of Armed Police in Fujian province took the toll from Typhoon Longwang that landed in south-eastern China late on Sunday to 65.
Of the 15 others killed, five died in landslides, five were swept away by floods and the remaining five were drowned, the China Daily reported.
As is often the case, the police disaster is being carefully managed by the state.
Local media has been instructed not to report the incident, instead relying on information provided by the official Xinhua news agency, which only released brief details of the tragedy 24 hours after it happened.
The school is barred from talking to foreign reporters.
”We cannot tell you anything. You must look at Xinhua,” said a worker there.
Last month, China, which for years has classified deaths from natural disasters as state secrets, announced that the practice would end in order to facilitate relief work.
Along with the havoc triggered by the typhoon, parts of northern and central China were dealing with torrential rains and severe flooding along major tributaries of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers.
According to Xinhua, flooding of the Weihe River in Shaanxi province, a tributary of the Yellow River, is the worst in 10 years.
So far, 315 000 people have been evacuated to safe places, while 30 000 others have been mobilised to reinforce embankments, it said.
The flood crest has inundated an area of 180 000ha, washed down 12 000 houses and endangered another 25 000 in 11 counties and districts of Weinan city, city officials said.
”These are the worst floods we have had in years. But this time we were well prepared, so there is no big danger to the population and no large number of casualties,” an official at the flood-control bureau of Weinan city said.
Reports on Tuesday said three people had died from flooding in Shaanxi.
The official said those evacuated were mostly being housed in tents but insisted: ”We have enough food and fresh water.”
The central province of Hubei was also struggling with heavy rain and the threat of widespread flooding, state media said.
The water level in the middle reaches of the Hanjiang River, the biggest tributary of the Yangtze, has risen above the danger mark, Xinhua reported.
Liu Youfan, vice-governor of Hubei, said 20 000 people had been mobilised to shore up embankments and watch for breaches and cave-ins.
Premier Wen Jiabao ordered government departments in both Shaanxi and Hubei to ”take emergency measures to evacuate people and examine dams to guard against flooding”.
Floods have always been part of life in China, although officials have said this year has been more devastating than usual.
Since serious flooding of the Yangtze River in 1998, China has spent billions of dollars on flood mitigation.
Major rivers have been brought under greater control and early-warning systems have been put in place, but flash floods and landslides caused by unprecedented rains continue to cause major damage. — AFP
