- The Chinese province of Guangdong has been under water since Thursday
- More than 127 million people live in the region
- So far, six have been injured by the Biblical floods
Landslides in southern China have injured at least six people and trapped others, state media reported on Sunday, as a region of nearly 127 million people braced for severe flooding “that occurs about once a century.” .
Heavy rains in parts of Guangdong province since Thursday have swelled rivers in the Pearl River Delta and caused flooding in mountainous areas.
State broadcaster CCTV said on Sunday that rain led to landslides in six villages in Jiangwan city in northern Guangdong, “leaving people trapped.”
Photos published by CCTV showed waterfront homes destroyed by a wall of brown mud, and people in fluorescent ponchos taking shelter on a sodden public sports field.
No deaths were immediately reported and the total number of people incarcerated was not specified.
Heavy rains in parts of Guangdong province since Thursday have swelled rivers in the Pearl River Delta and caused flooding in mountainous areas
State broadcaster CCTV said on Sunday that rain led to landslides that hit six villages in Jiangwan city, northern Guangdong.
Photos published by CCTV show waterfront homes destroyed by a wall of brown mud, and people in fluorescent ponchos taking shelter on a sodden public sports field
But CCTV said six people who were “trapped and injured” in the landslides had been flown to the nearby town of Shaoguan.
Emergency workers rushed to restore communications with the affected area “as quickly as possible,” CCTV said.
It added that more than 80 rescuers were working “day and night” to help people in the disaster area.
The Pearl River Delta is China’s manufacturing center and one of the country’s most densely populated regions. About 127 million people live in Guangdong alone.
Aerial footage on Sunday showed murky waters sloshing close to street level in some cities, flooding riverside promenades and pavilions and leaving a pagoda sticking out of the deluge.
Authorities have launched a level two emergency response in the Pearl River Delta, the second highest in a four-level system.
Emergency workers rushed to restore communications with the affected area “as quickly as possible,” CCTV said
The National Weather Bureau has imposed weather warnings in central Guangdong and warned of major storms in coastal areas through Sunday evening and Monday.
Citing the provincial hydrology bureau, CCTV said three monitored locations in the Bei River basin would experience “an approximately once-in-a-century flood… due to the impact of heavy rainfall.”
According to CCTV, flooding of up to 6 meters above the warning limit was expected to hit the areas from early Monday morning.
Several other monitored tributaries in the basin would experience the type of flooding that occurs once in 50 years, the report said.
There were no initial reports of mass evacuations.
Heavy rain was also expected in parts of the neighboring provinces of Jiangxi and Fujian on Sunday evening.
China is no stranger to extreme weather, but in recent years the country has been plagued by severe floods, severe droughts and record heat.
Climate change, caused by human-emitted greenhouse gases, is making extreme weather events more frequent and intense, and China is the world’s largest emitter.