Heavy rain damage expected to continue in parts of China

World Today

Heavy rain caused a lot of damage in Hunan Province, China. A village with farmland and crops now looks like a lake after heavy rains and severe flooding and even some dam breaks.

The only way in and out of the village is by boat.

Twelve boats and over 30 military personnel are working day and night to send in supplies and move people in and out.

“The water yesterday was around 4 meters deep. It has now gone down by one meter. Part of the challenge is the flooded area is quite expansive. And the people trapped are scattered. There are power outages, and the communication networks are totally down. Many villagers are not reachable, and we have to search for people house by house,” Huang Xiang, one of the rescue crew members said.

Despite the damage to their houses and power outages, many villagers choose to stay put to keep their property safe. While we searched through the village on a boat one villager was calling for help.

“There used to be crops around my house, and I had a tea garden behind it. I’m staying put because I have some things in my home that I need to take care of. And I need to take out some receipts I need for my company, among other things, “He Jianzhong who is from the village said.

Many whose houses are totally flooded and destroyed have been relocated to higher ground. And things are looking up a bit since the rain stopped.

“This has been the most severe flood since 1994 according to the villagers. The dam broke because of the heavy rains. In the next few days, it’s likely to rain heavily again. We’ll organize the local authorities to search through the region and the broken dam. And we’ll search through the houses submerged in the water to reduce damage,” Liu Tao, the head of NPC, Xialiu Township.

This is one of the more than 200 villages affected around this area. And 27,000 people’s lives have borne the brunt of the heavy rains. The floods are receding but more rains are expected in the next few days.