Death toll from China storms rises to 15, hundreds injured

BEIJING: The death toll from devastating storms in parts of China rose to 15 on Tuesday, with hundreds more injured and tens of thousands evacuated, state media reported, as President Xi Jinping urged “all out” rescue efforts.

Thunderstorms and gale-force winds killed at least 11 people and injured 331 in the central province of Hubei, where “severe convective weather” hit cities, and tornadoes were reported elsewhere late Monday, state news agency Xinhua said.

One person is missing, Xinhua said, adding that 4,800 houses were damaged and 22 more collapsed.

“This episode of severe convective weather was characterised by its sudden onset and intense, short-duration winds,” it added.

In the southern region of Guangxi, heavy rains and severe flooding from Typhoon Maysak killed at least four people, with at least 50,000 people evacuated, while eight people were still missing.

Officials in Nanning, Guangxi’s capital, raised the flood control emergency response to the highest level after torrential rain breached dams.

Dramatic video shared by CCTV showed a torrent of muddy water rushing past the crumbled concrete walls of a reservoir dam that had burst.

Xi said on Tuesday that rescuers should “go all out” in organising emergency operations, CCTV reported.

He also underscored the importance of “treating the injured, resettling affected residents, and carrying out disaster prevention and relief work effectively”.

Rescue workers wearing life vests and helmets searched for people, while others were deployed on inflatable boats, state media footage showed.

Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer, when some regions experience intense rainfall while others bake in scorching heat.

Separately, a landslide in a village in the northwestern province of Gansu buried 33 people on Tuesday morning, with 17 of them “successfully rescued”, CCTV said, without specifying what caused it.

Local authorities are “are making every effort” to search for those still trapped, “properly relocate and settle affected residents, and strictly guard against secondary disasters”, it added.

Scientists warn the intensity and frequency of global extreme weather events will increase as the planet continues to heat up because of fossil fuel emissions.

China is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, but it is also a global renewable energy powerhouse that aims to make its massive economy carbon-neutral by 2060.

At least 22 people were killed in China in May after heavy rains lashed its central and southern regions, with some places “hit by record-breaking rainfall”, state media reported.