CHINA’S State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Monday initiated a level-IV emergency response in three provinces in anticipation of potential flooding, as intense rainstorms continue to batter the south of the country. Affected regions include Guangdong, Hunan and Jiangxi. An additional team has been assigned to Guangdong to aid and direct flood prevention operations. The headquarters is continuing to enforce a level-IV emergency flood control response in Fujian, Guangxi, Zhejiang and Guizhou. An urgent shipment of 10,000 emergency kits for families has been dispatched to Fujian and Guangdong to provide comprehensive support for local resettlement and relief efforts involving those affected by the floods. China operates a four-tier emergency response system for flood control, with level I being the most severe response scenario. In Guangdong, multiple areas in Meizhou suffered heavy rains starting on Sunday, resulting in five people being killed, 15 missing and 13 stranded by Monday, said a statement released on Monday evening by the Guangdong provincial flood control headquarters. Due to the influence of the strong precipitation cloud system, extremely heavy rainstorms were reported in Meizhou, Pingyuan and Jiaoling counties in the previous days, causing many houses, bridges and highway sections to be destroyed and damaged and farmland to be flooded, according to a statement released by Guangdong provincial flood control headquarters. The dead, missing and trapped persons were reported in the flood-hit areas where mountain landslides and related geologic hazards have occurred since the weekend. The Guangdong provincial flood control headquarters raised its emergency response for flood control to level III on Monday morning, requiring relevant departments and flood-hit cities to to go all out for the fight against the flooding. Local governments have organized more than 200 rescue teams, consisting of more than 9,000 personnel to participate in emergency rescue. Huang Kunming, Party chief of Guangdong Province, has urged relevant departments in Guangdong to go all out for the fight against the disaster, and put people’s lives first in the battle against the disaster. Top priorities should be given to minimize casualties and economic losses, he said. Wang Weizhong, governor of Guangdong, has also led working groups to the flood-hit areas to help guide local disaster relief work. (SD News) | 