165,000 people evacuated due to heavy rain in China

BEIJING - Over 165,000 people have been evacuated after heavy rain in southern China destroyed more than 11,500 homes, officials said.

Heavy rains since Friday have swept across 36 counties and cities in Hunan province, destroying over 2,000 buildings and damaging more than 10,000 homes. This forced over 120,000 people to evacuate from the area. There were, however, no reports of any casualties, a spokesman of the provincial civil affairs department, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Rains also caused havoc in Jiangxi province. At least one person died and 44,600 people were forced to evacuate, the Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said.

At least 1,531 homes were damaged, and the direct economic loss has been estimated at 718 million yuan ($105.59 million), the provincial headquarters said.

Meanwhile, over 65,000 schoolchildren were affected as their schools in Taojiang county in Yiyang city had to be closed because of floods, Bai Chaohai, head of the office of Hunan provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters, was quoted as saying.

“Students are at home for the weekend. Classes will not resume next week until the heavy rains stop,” he said.

In Guangdong province’s Fengkai county, over 1,000 schoolchildren and teachers were evacuated Saturday due to a landslide threat.

Though the rain was expected to stop Sunday, more rain is forecast from Wednesday, the National Meteorological Centre said.