Floodwater burst a dike on a major river and forced the evacuation of 70,000 people by Tuesday, as the death toll from severe floods in southern China rose to nearly 200.
President Hu Jintao on Tuesday ordered an extra 800 soldiers to join some 10,000 military and civilian rescue workers evacuating people around the Fuhe river in Jiangxi province, the official Xinhua news agency said.
About 68,000 of the 100,000 people living near the river in Jiangxi’s Fuzhou city had been evacuated by Tuesday morning, the agency quoted local disaster relief officials as saying.
Floodwater breached the dike on Monday evening and had opened a 400—metre gap by Tuesday morning, Xinhua said.
Mr. Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao called for “all—out efforts to combat floods and save the lives” of local residents in Fuzhou, it said.
No casualties had been reported in the city by Tuesday afternoon.
Rescue officials set up 15 relocation areas to accommodate about 30,000 people, while the city government was using local sports stadiums, schools and other buildings to house some of the evacuees.
The emergency teams had rescued at least 1,200 people and were using 50 speedboats and 150 life—rafts.
But flooding on the main road from Fuzhou to the provincial capital, Nanchang, was hampering rescue work, reports said.
The government said the death toll from severe flooding in Jiangxi and nine other areas of southern China since June 13 had risen to at least 199, with 123 people missing and 2.4 million forced to abandon their homes.
Torrential rain had caused floods and landslides that affected more than 29 million people in the 10 southern regions, the national disaster relief office and Ministry of Civil Affairs said.
Other reports said the floods in parts of Fujian province, which borders Jiangxi, were the worst in 100 years.
The floods nationwide destroyed some 195,000 houses, damaged 568,000 others and caused estimated direct economic losses of 42.1 billion yuan (6.17 billion dollars), the ministry said.
More than 1.6 million hectares of crops were under water with about 12.5 per cent of the crops ruined, it said.
The disaster relief office said all 26 major rivers in Jiangxi were above the warning level.
In neighbouring Fujian province, floods caused landslides and mud flows that left at least 76 dead and 79 missing.
About 500,000 people were evacuated in Fujian, where 44,000 homes were destroyed as some areas experienced their worst floods for 100 years.
More heavy rain is forecast for most of southern China from Wednesday to Saturday.
