Three Dead, 50,000 Evacuated in Floods in Southern China's Hunan Province

Heavy rainfall has caused widespread damage in Hunan Province, southern China.

According to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency and other sources on June 21, since the night of June 18, heavy rain has fallen in Hunan Province, including Zhangjiajie, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Changde, and Huaihua. In particular, some areas of Sangzhi and Longshan County recorded more than 400 mm of precipitation during this period.

As a result, as of 5:00 p.m. local time the previous day, more than 53,000 residents had evacuated to safety in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Zhangjiajie, Changde, and Huaihua alone.

In Longshan County, three residents who were trapped in an underground parking lot lost their lives. They had gone underground on the night of June 19 to move their vehicles and were caught in the incident.

Due to the severe weather, high-speed rail operations between Chongqing and Xiamen were suspended the previous day, and access to the Zhangjiajie Wulingyuan Scenic Area, the filming location for the movie Avatar, has been prohibited since the previous day.

The Chinese fire authorities deployed 280 firefighters, 78 fire trucks, and 40 rescue boats to the flood-affected areas of Hunan Province for rescue and relief operations.

In Wuhan, Hubei Province, the highest-level red flood warning, out of four alert levels, was issued on this day. The cumulative rainfall in this area from early morning until the afternoon was forecast to reach 150 to 200 mm.