50,000 evacuated as ancient Chinese town submerged by heavy floods

World Today

An ancient Chinese town popular with tourists was submerged by flood waters from heavy rain, state media reported.

Fenghuang City, in central Hunan province’s Fenghuang County, has centuries-old buildings dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties, according to UNESCO. The town applied to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and is currently on the Tentative List.

Waters from the Tuojiang River rose by almost a meter (close to three feet) above the warning level and caused power outages, state television CCTV reported. Footage shows floodwaters surging through the lower levels of some buildings.

Over 50,000 people have been evacuated. Heavy rain also affected several other parts of China, including neighboring Guizhou province where another 40,000 have been evacuated. It also reported that about 200 houses collapsed due to heavy rain in the southwestern Yunnan province’s Weixi county.

More torrential rain is expected late Wednesday and continuing through Thursday morning in central China, the National Meteorological Centre said.

A version of this story originally appeared on CCTV NewsContent