Scores of people are dead or missing in Southwest China's Sichuan Province after a week of storms drenched many areas with more than 300 millimetres of rain, officials and reports said.
Massive relief efforts are under way involving more than 100,000 soldiers, firefighters, police officers and militia reserves as workers attempt to reach flood-trapped residents and bring food and supplies to several hard-hit cities and counties.
The rain began to subside Sunday evening, an official with the Chengdu Meteorological Observatory said yesterday. The observatory forecasted drizzle and clouds for Tuesday, which should help avoid further flooding and assist the rescue efforts
The pouring waterfalls have led to severe casualties and great loss of wealth in these areas.
In Deyang and Mianyang counties, where the rainfalls surpassed 300 mm by Friday, scores were believed dead or missing, a local newspaper reported.
Jintang County also suffered disaster conditions, with the county seat reporting the collapse of more than 1,000 houses and devastation to farm crops.
A landslide distrupted many sections of Baoji-Chengdu Railway, Chengdu-Mianyang Expressway and No 212 National Road. A 10,000-cubic-metre chunk of earth and stonework collapsed.
About 20,000 workers were on the site for more than 10 hours yesterday attempting to fix the roads and railway, Xinhua reported.
Rescuers did enjoy some success amid the trauma as 69 families along the Minjiang River in the city of Dujiangyan were moved to safety from the flooded region. The Minjiang River is a main branch of the Yangtze River.
(Chinadaily09/25/2001)
