Heavy floods hit Yingde city

High-power pumps have been working every minute to help pump water in the streets and major venues where floods have been hitting the hardest in the Yingde city in the northern part of Guangdong province since Saturday.

According to a statement released by Yingde city government on Saturday, the city issued this year's first red flood warning signal, when the city's river water rose quickly because of continuous heavy rainfall, flooding some streets and communities in the city.

The city recorded a precipitation of more than 335 millimeters on Friday, a record high for a single day in the city's history.

The down pour has greatly exceeded the drainage capacity of the city's urban area, resulting in the flooding of streets and housing estates in multiple areas of the city, said the statement released on Sunday.

Now Yingde City Water Conservancy Bureau has sent a 100KW generator, a 120KW generator, plus two portable high-power submersible pumps, a high-power 500 sewage submersible pump and related water pumping equipment to accelerate drainage to spare no effort in carrying out flood control and rescue work to ensure the safety of people's lives and properties.

Meanwhile Guangdong provincial and Qingyuan city government have also sent supportive pumping equipment and pumping trucks to help Yingde prevent and fight against the flood disaster, said the statement.

The city government has promised to adhere to the principle of putting the people first in the fight against the flood disaster, it said.

No casualties have been reported so far, the statement said.

The local meteorological department said heavy rainfall, accompanied with strong winds will not weaken in northern part of Guangdong till Monday.

Relevant departments have been urged to take concrete and effective measures to prevent and fight against mountain torrents, mudslides and related geological disasters in the coming days, it added.