With 200 dead, more heavy rains expected for southern China amid flood season

More rain expected for flood-hit areas in China

BEIJING — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao rallied rescuers and comforted victims in southern China’s Jiangxi province on Thursday following widespread flooding that has killed more than 200 and caused $6.4 billion in damages.

More torrential rains are expected for the southern regions of Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangxi in the next two days, Xinhua reported, threatening to hamper rescue efforts that have seen a total of 2.4 million people evacuated from their homes.

Wen arrived in flood-stricken Fuzhou city amid heavy rains, wearing galoshes and wading through floodwaters in the disaster area, according to footage aired on China Central Television. About 100,000 people were evacuated earlier this week in Fuzhou as the nearby Fuhe River breached its banks and a dike on another portion of the river burst.

“You are not afraid of sacrifice and in 48 hours, managed to rescue 100,000 people without a single casualty,” Wen told paramilitary troops, speaking into a bullhorn shielded with an orange plastic bag. “You have created a miracle in history.”

The premier, whose frequent trips to disaster zones have made him the grandfatherly face of the stiff Chinese leadership, later toured a sports arena that has been turned into a shelter for displaced residents. He asked an old woman whether she had enough to eat and sat on a straw mat on the ground to chat with a woman holding a baby.

Storms have pounded southern China for more than a week, killing at least 211 people, with more than 100 missing, as landslides have cut off transportation and rivers and reservoirs have overflowed.

Xinhua reported thousands of soldiers and workers were transporting stones and sandbags to block and redirect water flows, with the goal of patching up the breach within the next week.

China sustains major flooding annually along the mighty Yangtze and other major rivers, but this year’s floods have been especially heavy, spreading across 10 provinces and regions in the south and along the eastern coast.