Rescue efforts underway for stranded villagers

Rescue workers are working full-out stranded villagers in the flood-hit Chaonan district of Shantou, a coastal city in eastern Guangdong province, on Wednesday.

According to Chen Yunyuan, deputy head of Chaonan district, about 30 villages in the district are still being flooded, and thousands are waiting to be evacuated.

"Currently, rescuers are using steamboats and rubber dinghies to distribute food and water to stranded villagers," Chen told local media.

The army is sending helicopters to airdrop relief supplies, Chen said.

By Wednesday, at least four people had died and thousands of houses were destroyed or damaged in the district, he said.

And nearly 130,000 residents had been relocated, he added.

Cai Jilai, 51, a farmer from Ding'an village in the district's Chendian township, turned to tears when he recalled the devastating flooding and the raging storms that struck his village in the previous days.

"The floodwater reached the rooftops of many houses, and the villagers who have yet to be relocated had to climb to the top of their houses to wait to be rescued," he said.

"Many houses collapsed during the storms, and floodwaters reached more than 2 meters deep in some areas," Cai told local media after he was evacuated on Tuesday.

"A dozen pigs I raised were washed away, causing a big financial loss to my family," added Cai.

Guangdong agricultural authorities said a large number of domestic animals have also been killed, while many animal-raising farms and facilities were destroyed or damaged in the past days.