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River breaches bank again in rain-soaked S. China

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East China's Fuhe River breached its banks again early Wednesday, further inundating flooded areas of Jiangxi Province, according to the provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

Fire fighters help the trapped villagers evacuate to safe places in Fuzhou City, east China's Jiangxi Province, June 22, 2010. The heavy rains and floods ravaging 10 southern Chinese provinces had killed 199 and left 123 missing as of Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. [Xinhua]

Residents had been evacuated the previous night, and no casualties had been reported, said a headquarters statement.

The width of the breach near Changhu Village, Luozhen Township, Fuzhou City, on the Changkai section of the river, was unknown, municipal flood control officials said.

The dike at the Lingshan Hejia part of the river's Changkai section first broke at 6:30 p.m. Monday, threatening the safety of about 100,000 residents, who have all been evacuated.

The heavy rains and floods have ravaged 10 southern Chinese regions, leaving 211 dead and 119 missing as of 4 p.m. Wednesday, a Ministry of Civil Affairs statement said.

About 30 million people in the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities -- Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan and Guizhou -- have been affected by the weather, with 2.4 million people evacuated, the statement said Wednesday.

The floods have caused direct economic losses of around 43.3 billion yuan (6.36 billion U.S. dollars), as rivers broke their banks, landslides severed road and rail links and houses collapsed, it said.

Shi Jinxiang, a villager from Luozhen Township trapped on the roof of her house with her child and parents for a day and a half, was rescued early Wednesday.

"Water inundated my house and so we climbed on to the roof. I am so grateful to the rescuers. We were starving for more than 10 hours," she said.

More than 15,000 soldiers and civilians have been mobilized by the provincial government for the rescue and relief work, the headquarters said.

People's Armed Police officer Yang Pinwang, dispatched to the affected area Monday, had slept less than six hours since he arrived.

Ge Xiaowei, the 21-year-old armed force officer from south China's Guangdong Province, gave his life vest to 69-year-old Liu Yundi and Ge later drowned when their boat capsized on June 16.

His body was found on the riverside grassland on June 17 after the water receded, said Liu Xingkai, a rescuer.

Ge died while rescuing 21 villagers trapped at Yangpu Village, Heyuan City with five other soldiers. He was born in Jiangxi Province in 1988, said Liu.

About a dozen monks from nearby Zhengjue Temple drove two vehicles loaded with food and water to the township to give out to those affected by the floods.

"Hearing the dike breach, we felt we should do something. So we raised 20,000 yuan to buy bottled water and biscuits. We also made steamed bread and stuffed buns at temple and distributed them along the road," said Jing Yong, a senior monk.

Evacuees are mainly living in tents or dormitories at schools as students are on summer vacation.

The provincial civil affairs department has allocated more than 5,000 tents and 12,000 quilts to evacuees, with another 20,000 quilts and 6,200 blankets being shipped.

Temporary medical stations have been set up in Fuzhou City for epidemic prevention and health care, according to the latest statement issued by provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

People were also encouraged to stay with their relatives or friends living in safe areas, said Zhou Xiaoping, deputy chief of Fuzhou City.

"We will make sure that every relocated person in Jiangxi will have two more sets of clothes and every hundred will have a water dispenser," said Zhou.

President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao Tuesday called for all-out efforts to combat the floods and save lives after the dike burst Monday in Jiangxi.

Meanwhile, authorities have started to transport machinery and materials, such as stone for bank repairs, and experts are rushing to establish repair plan so as to restore the bank.

Many regions in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, as well as in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, would be hit by rainstorms and torrential rains from Wednesday to Saturday, the National Meteorological Center forecast Tuesday.

The rains might trigger landslides in Fuzhou City and northern Ganzhou City of Jiangxi, judging from the forecast rainfall and local geological characters, according to a joint statement issued by Jiangxi Provincial Meteorological Bureau and Department of Land and Resources.

The flood has brought back memories of the severe Yangtze River flooding in southern China in 1998, when 230 million people were affected, 3,656 died and 20.44 million were displaced.

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