Thousands evacuated after floods in China, N.Korea

BEIJING: More than 120,000 people have been evacuated in northeast China following devastating floods that have already left four dead and forced the relocation of thousands in neighbouring North Korea.

Heavy summer downpours have swelled to bursting point the Yalu river, which forms the border between the two countries, and forecasters are warning of yet more heavy rain to come.

China's civil affairs ministry said late Saturday that 127,000 people had been evacuated in Liaoning province in just three days due to heavy rains, as the nation continued to struggle against its worst floods in a decade.

In Dandong city alone, a border town with North Korea, more than 64,000 residents were evacuated and some power and transport links were cut off, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

A couple in their 70s and a mother and son died in Kuandian county, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Dandong, when flash floods swept away their homes, Xinhua said, citing a local flood control official.

A 60-year-old man was also missing in Kuandian after his house collapsed in a rain-triggered landslide.

In neighbouring North Korea, more than 5,000 people had been moved to safe places after parts of Sinuiju city and nearby rural communities near the border were “completely inundated,” the official Korean Central News Agency said.

China's national meteorological centre warned Sunday that heavy downpours were expected to continue in parts of Liaoning for another 24 hours at least, coupled with some storms and gales, further exacerbating the flood situation.

Heavy rains have also battered other parts of China this summer, and nearly 3,900 people have been killed or left missing this year in flood-related incidents, official figures show.

The northwestern province of Gansu was particularly badly hit on August 7 when a torrent of mud slammed into homes in the remote town of Zhouqu, leaving at least 1,434 dead and another 331 missing.

And in the southwestern province of Yunnan, rescuers are still searching for 69 people who went missing in rain-triggered mudslides in a remote, mountainous area. Twenty-three people have been confirmed dead, Xinhua said. – AFP