Torrential rains hit Zhouqu County,clogged river triggers floodsq

Runoff from the downpour built up behind a landslide on the Bailong River,which courses through the main town in Zhouqu.

The clogged river in the narrow valley then spilled over its banks and triggered flooding and mudslides that struck the town after midnight,smashed a small hydro station,and left at least 127 dead,according to Xinhua.

More heavy rain is forecast on the river on Tuesday. “Many single-storey homes have been wiped out and now we’re waiting to see how many people got out,” one resident of Zhouqu,a merchant called Han Jiangping,said. “We’ve had landslides before,but never anything this bad. People are trying to find their families and waiting for more rescuers.”

The disaster follows flooding in Pakistan which has killed more than 1,600 people and in Jammu and Kashmir. China’s death toll could rise sharply and Premier Wen Jiabao rushed to the scene. Nearly 2,000 people were missing,according to Xinhua,and it was unclear how many of them had fled and survived. One village with 300 homes was buried.

“It’s very hard to locate the people washed away by floods. It’s hard to say what their chances of survival are,” He Youxin,a People’s Armed Police officer organising rescue efforts,told Xinhua. “Since excavators can’t reach the site. We can only use spades and our hands to rescue the buried.”

At one point,the flooding covered about half of the Zhouqu county seat,which has about 40,000 residents. The flood water reached up to three storeys high on some buildings,enveloping them in stubborn mud unlikely to yield many survivors.

About 2,800 troops and 100 medical workers rushed to help and 5,000 tents were being sent to the town,Xinhua said. “Now the sludge has become the biggest problem to rescue operations. It’s too thick to walk or drive through,” said the head of the county,Diemujiangteng.

China’s ruling Communist Party has become adept at showing its strength by mobilising troops and aid in the face of natural calamities. Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen told officials to spare no efforts to save lives,said Xinhua.