several missing and tens of thousands of people evacuated in Guangdong province

Heavy rainfall has caused rivers to swell to such a level that there are fears of “floods of the century”, according to local authorities.

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Flooded streets in Qingyuan, China, April 21, 2024. (HUANG GUOBAO / XINHUA / AFP)

Eleven people are missing in China after torrential rains caused flooding and led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents in the south of the country, state media reported on Monday April 22. Since Thursday, torrential rains have hit the province of Guangdong, the richest and most populous in the country, whose capital is Guangzhou (also called Guangzhou). The heavy rainfall has caused rivers to swell to such a level that there are fears of “floods of the centuryaccording to local authorities.

Six people were injured and several others trapped near the city of Jiangwan in northern Guangdong, according to state television CCTV. More than 53,000 residents of the province also had to be rehoused, the Xinhua news agency said. The vast majority were evacuated from Qingyuan, a town located about sixty kilometers from Guangzhou and crossed by the Bei River, a tributary of the Pearl River Delta.

Heavy rainfall is still expected in Guangdong on Monday. They should affect the metropolis of Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong and headquarters of many technology companies, and be accompanied by thunderstorms and violent winds, according to Chinese meteorological services.


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