Record floods threaten Southern China
Record floods were expected in parts of southern China Thursday
as heavy rains pushed water levels in the Pearl River delta to their highest in
almost a century.
Hundreds
of thousands of people have been evacuated from the worst-hit parts of the
region, which includes Guangdong province, a manufacturing and logistics hub
that is home to China's tech capital Shenzhen.
China's
ministry of water resources on Wednesday placed its highest flood alert on the
Pearl River basin, saying water levels at one location "surpassed
historical records" and that the provincial capital Guangzhou would be
impacted.
Images
from the city of Shaoguan, north of Guangzhou, showed residents on Wednesday
making their way through flooded main roads, as water in some areas reached the
tops of cars.
The
muddy floodwater inundated shops and buildings, and people were seen clearing
away the debris.
The
low-lying Pearl River delta is home to the economic powerhouses of Guangzhou
and Shenzhen, as well as several smaller but densely populated cities with
major manufacturing and other industries.
Provincial
emergency management authorities said earlier this week that direct economic
losses were estimated at 1.7 billion yuan ($253 million).
Under
the highest alert level, at-risk areas in Guangdong have been ordered to take
all necessary measures including suspending work at factories and closing
schools to minimise damage.
Other
regions in southern China, including coastal Fujian province and Guangxi, have
also been affected by record rains this month, forcing hundreds of thousands to
evacuate.
Summer
floods are common in parts of China, but these have been getting more extreme
in recent years as a result of climate change.
Chinese
authorities so far have not directly linked this year's extreme floods to
climate change.
Some local media have dubbed it a "once-in-a-century flood", reporting that water levels have surpassed the highest recorded in 1931 and are approaching the area's worst floods in 1915.
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