3. Floods in Hunan Province Killed 56, Left 220,000 Trapped by Water .... 37
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Reported by: Ray ZHANG, Guochen WAN
[CND, 06/12/97] Flash floods in central China's Hunan province have
claimed 56 lives and left 220,000 trapped by water, AFP reported citing a
radio report Thursday.
According to the radio report, 50,000 people had been mobilized to help
rescue those trapped by the flood waters. Conditions had apparently
worsened since the last official report on the flooding last Sunday when
about 30 people were reported dead and eight missing.
Earlier reports also indicated that more than 66,000 buildings had been
damaged in the cities of Liuyang and Changsha as well as in Changsha
county, forcing the evacuation of 113,000 people.
Liuyang and Changsha were lashed by 29.7 and 21.9 centimeters,
respectively, of heavy rainfall overnight from Friday to Saturday, causing
the local Xiang and Liuyang rivers to swell uncontrollably. In some
buildings in Changsha, floodwaters rose to the third-floor level. Initial
estimates last Sunday (June 8) put the damage at 1.33 billion yuan (160
million dollars).
For the past few years, China has witnessed some of the worst floods in
history. According to official estimates, floods in eastern and
southeastern China last year killed more than 3,000 people and caused
economic losses of 26.5 billion dollars, while other press reports have
since suggested that the destruction may have been much worse. One
Chinese source said that more than 10,000 people were killed in Hunan
province alone.
China's rapid and poorly regulated urbanization as evidenced by inadequate
water-control precautions has been blamed by some foreign analysts for the
extent of damage in recent years.