Thousands evacuated as severe flooding hits southern China
BEIJING: Nearly 70,000 people in southern China have been evacuated after heavy flooding caused by Typhoon Wutip, Chinese state media reported Wednesday (June 18).
Vast areas of Zhaoqing city in Guangdong province were submerged, with floodwaters inundating shopfronts and covering roads, footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed.
Rescuers pushed stranded cars out of the water and used dinghies to transport residents to safety.
Other images showed rescuers wading through water while carrying stranded people on their backs.
The flooding had affected 183,000 residents in Zhaoqing's Huaiji county, with the city mobilising more than 10,000 rescue personnel, state media outlet Xinhua reported.
The flooding affected much of Guangdong province and the neighbouring Guangxi region.
Footage from CCTV filmed on Tuesday showed rescuers in Guangxi dragging a rubber boat crammed with people through knee-deep water as heavy rain continued to fall.
Typhoon Wutip, China's first typhoon of the year, made landfall on the island province of Hainan last Friday, before moving to Guangdong on Saturday.
It brought winds gusting up to 128 kilometres per hour (80 miles per hour) before weakening to a severe tropical storm at the weekend.
Even as its severity subsided, the storm has continued to bring heavy rain to southern China and Zhejiang province in the east, where authorities issued an emergency response notice for flooding risks.
Rainfall in some areas had surpassed 100 millimetres, according to the China Meteorological Administration.
Authorities in Vietnam said on Monday that seven people had died in the country after heavy rains and flooding caused by Wutip.
China has endured spates of extreme weather events from searing heat and drought to downpours and floods for several summers running.
The country is the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter but also a renewable energy powerhouse, seeking to cut carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2060.
Torrential rains last August, triggered by Typhoon Gaemi, which moved from the Philippines and Taiwan to make landfall in eastern China, killed at least 30 people and left dozens missing. - AFP
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