Xi raises red flag as storms pound the south

The task of controlling floods in China is becoming increasingly arduous, President Xi Jinping said yesterday, calling for all-out efforts to safeguard lives and property as powerful storms pounded provinces from the interior to the eastern coast.

A dozen people have been reported killed in floods or rain-induced mudslides in recent days with the annual flooding season in the south in full swing.

In Meizhou city in Guangdong, low-rise buildings tilted perilously on subsiding ground next to raging rivers, or lay half-submerged as floodwaters burst the banks, video on social media showed.

In Guangdong, at least five people were killed and 13 trapped due to flash floods and mudslides, with over 1,400 houses having collapsed and 8,000 hectares of crops damaged.

Deaths during China's annual summer floods have fallen sharply from the thousands each year in the 1990s, as authorities beefed up flood-control measures, such as dam construction.

Yet extreme weather in recent years, including record-breaking rainfall, has made China vulnerable to intense flooding and disasters such as sudden mudslides, often in its mountainous but populated areas.

In Shanghang, a county in Fujian, four people were killed after rainfall in 15 townships broke records over a 24-hour period.

Communication and power infrastructure in Shanghang have not fully recovered, with the region facing the risk of more landslides.

In Xinjiang, flash floods engulfed a car yesterday, and four people remained missing, while heavy rainfall in its mountainous Changji region brought flash floods and mudslides that blocked roads.

Officials in Guangxi upgraded a flood warning advisory, as about 23,600 people were affected in 10 counties.

Flash-flood warnings were also issued in Zhejiang and Jiangxi.

More heavy rain is expected in Guangxi, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang and Anhui, while waters in many rivers have exceeded warning levels.