At least four people have died and three are missing following heavy rains in the central Chinese city of Zixing caused by Typhoon Gaemi, the official press reported today.
Local authorities, quoted by the official People's Daily newspaper, said that the average rainfall since last Friday was 410 millimeters, reaching a maximum of 673.6 millimeters in some areas, with a maximum intensity of 132.2 millimeters per hour.
The rain affected more than 87,000 people, destroyed 867 houses and caused 1,345 landslides, which cut off 14 roads.
The affected cultivated areas cover 244.86 hectares, while nine towns in the municipality of Zixing have suffered power cuts.
The authorities evacuated 11,379 residents to safe places and mobilized 5,469 professionals for relief work.
In recent days, rains from the outer reaches of the Gaemi River have particularly affected Hunan, a province with a population of around 66 million: at least 15 people died in a landslide on Sunday and a dam burst.
Since mid-June, Hunan has been experiencing the heaviest rainfall of the year, with local records breaking in some regions.
In recent summers, meteorological disasters have caused great damage in the Asian country: the summer months of 2023 were marked by floods in Beijing that killed more than 30 people, while in 2022 several extreme heat waves and droughts hit the center and east of the country.
In July 2021, rains of an intensity not seen for decades left around 400 people dead in the central province of Henan, which the Chinese government attributed to a "lack of preparation and risk perception" by local authorities.
