Typhoon adds to southern China’s rain and flooding woes

China suffered a double blow Wednesday of flooding and landslides from unusually heavy seasonal rains and a storm that got here ashore on its southern coast.

Five individuals had been lacking in Yunnan province within the southwest after a landslide destroyed two homes, the official People’s Daily newspaper stated.

In Sichuan province, 21 automobiles parked in a sq. in Yibin metropolis fell right into a gap after the highway beneath them collapsed in the course of the night time. No one was injured, in accordance to media stories.

Flooding has left greater than 200 individuals useless or lacking in China this 12 months and precipitated USD 25 billion in injury, authorities stated final week.

Typhoon Higos drenched Hong Kong in a single day earlier than making landfall in Zhuhai, a metropolis in Guangdong province, within the morning with most sustained winds of 126 kilometers (78 miles) per hour, China’s National Meteorological Center stated.

It weakened to a tropical storm because it moved west towards the neighboring Guangxi area. More than 65,000 individuals had been evacuated, faculties had been closed and many fishing boats returned to port alongside the coast, in accordance to Chinese media stories.

Power was knocked out in Meizhou metropolis in northeastern Guangdong province on Tuesday night time after timber fell onto energy traces, the electrical firm stated.

The worst of the flooding appeared to be over in Sichuan, the place the emergency stage was lowered Wednesday morning and the toes of a well-known Buddhist statue re-emerged as waters receded, information stories stated.

It was the primary time in at the least 70 years that water had reached the foot of the Leshan Giant Buddha, a 71-meter (233-foot) -tall statue carved into the aspect of a mountain within the eighth century.

Emei Mountain, a close-by vacationer web site, reopened to guests after being closed for almost three days.

The sprawling Chongqing municipality noticed its worst flooding since 1981. Water coated roofs in low-lying areas of the historic city of Ciqikou, which was closed to vacationers due to the rains from Tuesday night.

On Tuesday, President Xi Jinping visited hard-hit Anhui province, the place the 13 sluice gates of the Wagnjiaba dam had been opened, flooding farmland and forests to stop extra intensive injury downriver.