Dozens Killed In China Flooding
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BEIJING (Worthy News) – Chinese authorities said Monday that at least 47 people died in southern China’s Guangdong Province after torrential rains set off flooding and landslides and warned of more “abnormally high amounts of rain.”
The city of Meizhou, home to about 3.8 million people, began experiencing “once-in-a-century” rainfall last week, forcing some 100,000 people to evacuate, officials said.
On Monday, officials were still working to restore power and water to some residents after they said on Sunday that around 9,000 households remained without electricity.
Meizhou has been hit hard by extreme weather this year. Worthy News monitored footage showing many destroyed homes.
In May, 48 people died after a nearly 60-foot segment of an expressway in the same area collapsed, also after days of heavy rain.
These incidents also underscored broader concerns about the quality of infrastructure in communist-run China despite massive investments.
Flooding-related deaths have also been reported in the nearby provinces of Fujian, Guangxi, and Hunan this month.
TURBULENT SUMMER
On Monday in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan, the police rescued people trapped in waist-deep water near a major train station, official media said.
Authorities warned that the country is bracing for a summer of potential weather-related disasters.
While southern China has been battered on and off by severe rain for months, provinces in the north have warned of drought. Last week, the capital city of Beijing was under a heat warning.
China’s authorities warned that “abnormally high amounts of rain are likely to continue falling until the end of the month, concentrated in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.”
United Nations-related scientists view these events as part of “climate change” and say the world is on track to experience the hottest temperatures recorded in recent history.
Skeptical scientists have doubts about these assessments and say deaths are also due to growing urbanization and pressure on available resources.
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