Rescuers in China race to find the missing, seal dykes after deadly floods
Typhoon Gaemi brought record rainfall to southern Hunan province
Floods devastated Hunan, with city of Zixing faring the worst
Thirty deaths reported in Zixing, 35 still missing
Adds difficulty reaching worst-hit areas; paragraphs 9-10
By Ryan Woo
BEIJING, Aug 2 (Reuters) -Rescuers in China scrambled on Friday to locate dozens of people still missing a week after the year's most powerful typhoon roared into the southern province of Hunan, while emergency workers rushed to seal breached dykes on swollen rivers.
Even before Typhoon Gaemi hit on July 25, China was roiled by months of extreme weather that pummelled southern provinces with record rain and parched northern regions with heat waves. Weather officials are warning of more harsh weather in August.
The city of Zixing took the brunt of the typhoon in Hunan, lashed by 673.9 mm (26.5 inches) of rain over 24 hours, local officials told a press conference, or the equivalent of a quarter of its average annual rainfall.
The most powerful typhoon to hit China this year, Gaemi has killed 30 residents of the city, with 35 missing, local officials said at a press conference on Friday.
"Typhoon Gaemi brought great damage to Zixing," said provincial disaster prevention official Xiao Yingbin. "It was a very serious natural disaster."
Power supply was knocked out in 149 villages and communications cut in 78, while 1,641 houses were destroyed and 1,345 sections of road collapsed, one official said.
About 118,000 residents of Zixing, or a third of its population, have been affected, and about 13,800 hectares (34,100 acres) of crops were damaged, the official added.
Rescuers must make every effort to find the missing, restore infrastructure and guard against disasters such as landslides, China's second-most senior official, Premier Li Qiang, urged on Thursday during a visit to the city.
Mountainous terrain and dense forests present challenges for the rescuers, officials said, as they have been forced to walk to the hardest-hit areas, cut off by road collapses.
Supplies had to be air-dropped in some places, said local emergency management official Cao Zhongsheng.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
Across Hunan province, the rains have affected 1.15 million people, with direct economic losses of 6.13 billion yuan ($849 million).
Emergency workers rushed this week to seal a breached dyke on the Juanshui River, with two other dyke breaches reported on July 28.
Extreme weather crimped China's factory operations in July while high temperatures and floods hobbled the construction sector, official data showed this week, after last month's contraction in manufacturing activity.
July was China's hottest month in modern history, mirroring record high temperatures elsewhere in the world fuelled by climate change.
More harsh weather is in store for China in August, Jia Xiaolong, deputy head of the National Climate Center, said on Thursday, with many regions expected to get more rain than in corresponding periods of previous years.
Up to three typhoons could hit China this month, he added.
Drought might hit the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in central China, Jia added, calling for measures such as cloudseeding to ensure crops grow.
Visiting the central province of Henan this week, Vice Premier Liu Guozhong called for efforts to limit damage to farm output from torrential rain and floods and ensure a bumper autumn harvest.
Henan, known as China's granary, grows about one-third of its wheat.
($1=7.2213 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
Últimas notícias
Isenção de Responsabilidade: As entidades do XM Group proporcionam serviço de apenas-execução e acesso à nossa plataforma online de negociação, permitindo a visualização e/ou uso do conteúdo disponível no website ou através deste, o que não se destina a alterar ou a expandir o supracitado. Tal acesso e uso estão sempre sujeitos a: (i) Termos e Condições; (ii) Avisos de Risco; e (iii) Termos de Responsabilidade. Este, é desta forma, fornecido como informação generalizada. Particularmente, por favor esteja ciente que os conteúdos da nossa plataforma online de negociação não constituem solicitação ou oferta para iniciar qualquer transação nos mercados financeiros. Negociar em qualquer mercado financeiro envolve um nível de risco significativo de perda do capital.
Todo o material publicado na nossa plataforma de negociação online tem apenas objetivos educacionais/informativos e não contém — e não deve ser considerado conter — conselhos e recomendações financeiras, de negociação ou fiscalidade de investimentos, registo de preços de negociação, oferta e solicitação de transação em qualquer instrumento financeiro ou promoção financeira não solicitada direcionadas a si.
Qual conteúdo obtido por uma terceira parte, assim como o conteúdo preparado pela XM, tais como, opiniões, pesquisa, análises, preços, outra informação ou links para websites de terceiras partes contidos neste website são prestados "no estado em que se encontram", como um comentário de mercado generalizado e não constitui conselho de investimento. Na medida em que qualquer conteúdo é construído como pesquisa de investimento, deve considerar e aceitar que este não tem como objetivo e nem foi preparado de acordo com os requisitos legais concebidos para promover a independência da pesquisa de investimento, desta forma, deve ser considerado material de marketing sob as leis e regulações relevantes. Por favor, certifique-se que leu e compreendeu a nossa Notificação sobre Pesquisa de Investimento não-independente e o Aviso de Risco, relativos à informação supracitada, os quais podem ser acedidos aqui.
