In Guangdong, flood response accelerates

Efforts are continuing in Guangdong province to evacuate people affected by recent torrential rainfall. More than 26,000 people had been removed from high-risk areas as of early Tuesday.

The provincial Department of Water Resources issued a new flash flood risk warning at 9 am on Tuesday, and ordered governmental departments and cities to introduce effective and concrete measures to safeguard lives and property.

Flash floods are highly likely to occur locally in Haifeng and Luhe counties, as well as in the cities of Lufeng and Puning in eastern Guangdong in the next 24 hours, a statement from the water resources department said.

Meanwhile, the provincial disaster reduction committee ordered all localities and departments to strengthen their reports about disaster conditions, to evacuate affected residents and distribute disaster relief funds and supplies to ensure basic living conditions for those affected by floods.

On Monday morning, the department issued its first risk warning and called for measures to prevent geological hazards, including flash floods and mountain landslides caused by continuous heavy downpours. It raised its flood control emergency response to Level III from Level Ⅳ on Monday.

As of Tuesday morning, the Guangdong flood control, drought relief and typhoon response office had completed 40 rounds of dispatch work for key prefecture-level cities and 86 rounds for key counties and districts.

In rain-prone zones around the province, including 428 administrative villages and 4,210 natural villages, walkie-talkies are being employed to support coordination work.

The provincial Department of Emergency Management, in conjunction with the meteorological bureau, sent early warning SMS messages to the public, reaching 203 million people in all 21 prefecture-level cities across the province.

The provincial fire and rescue brigade deployed 367 fire and rescue personnel, 78 fire engines and 52 motorboats across 11 prefecture-level cities, setting up 49 on-call frontier posts.

Because of the heavy rains, the schedules of some trains operating in disaster areas have been adjusted, with measures including travel suspensions, return trips and the rerouting of some passengers, railway authorities said.

In Shenzhen, the education department ordered all schools and kindergartens to suspend classes starting at noon on Tuesday.

No deaths have been reported so far.