Flooding in southwest China has forced more than 80,000 people from their homes, state media reported Wednesday, after a collapsed bridge forced a dramatic rescue by a truck driver who was dangling from the edge.
China is going through a summer of extreme weather, with heatwaves in wider parts of the country, while rainstorms hit other regions.
About 80,900 people had been evacuated by Tuesday afternoon in the southwestern province of Guizhou, state news agency Xinhua reported. In the Rongjiang area, a soccer field was submerged under three meters of water, according to the news agency. State-run CCTV footage showed heavy flooding engulfing villages and collapsing a bridge in a mountainous area of the province.
“The water was rising very fast. I stayed on the third floor waiting for rescue. I was transferred to safety by the afternoon,” resident Long Tian told Xinhua.
The team was also seen preparing a drone to deliver supplies, including rice, to flood victims.
In a video released by local media, truck driver You Guochun recounted his harrowing rescue after finding himself on the edge of a collapsed section of the bridge.
“The bridge completely collapsed in front of me. I was terrified,” he said.
Flooding also hit neighboring Guangxi, and state media released videos of rescuers carrying residents to safety there.
Tens of thousands of people were evacuated last week in central China’s Hunan province due to heavy rains. Nearly 70,000 people in southern China were relocated days earlier after severe flooding caused by Typhoon Wutip.
Chinese authorities last week issued the first red warnings of the year for mountain torrents in six regions – the highest level of warning in the country’s four-level system.
Authorities in Beijing this week issued the second highest heat warning for the capital. Last year was the warmest in China, and the past four have been the warmest on record.
China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, but it is also a renewable energy giant, aiming to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2060, AFP reports.
