100,000 evacuated in Sichuan downpour

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-12 16:12

CHENGDU: At least two people were missing and more than 100,000 others displaced after a rainstorm pelted part of Sichuan Province over the past three days, the local government said Sunday.

Two young men were flushed away by mountain torrents at about 9 a.m. Saturday while passing a makeshift bridge in Xuanhan County, Dazhou City. Rescuers are searching for them, according to the government of Dazhou.

About 102,000 people have been evacuated or relocated to safe places in the city, where continuous downpour had collapsed 8,582 houses, damaged 11,782 and flooded nearly 30,900 hectares of cropland since Thursday afternoon.

A large number of roads, embankments and part of the power and communication systems were paralyzed.

The life of nearly 2 million people in 106 townships have been disrupted by the rainstorm, which incurred 224 million yuan (US$32.8 million) in economic loss.

Precipitation reached more than 50 millimeters in 94 locations while the maximum volume of 324.4 millimeters was registered in Xuanhan as of 4 pm Saturday.

The municipal government called on relative authorities to ensure food, medical service and lodging supply and help people to restore normal life as soon as possible.

The rainfall came to a brief stop Saturday night but is expected to resume Sunday evening, according to the latest weather forecast.

Workers were clearing silt and disinfecting rain-hit places across the city.

A heavy rain also left one person dead and four others missing in central China's Hunan Province Saturday.

Torrential rains gushed into a long conduit of a hydropower plant in Liuyang City at 4:30 pm, trapping five workers, the city government said.

Rescuers found one body Sunday and were still searching for the four missing, but their chance of survival is slim.