BEIJING: On Wednesday ( May 1 ), at least 24 people died when a portion of a highway collapsed in southern China’s Guangdong province as a result of heavy rains, according to state media.
Guangdong, a densely populated business superstar, has been lashed by rainstorms in recent days, causing extreme flooding and landslides in some areas.
The storms have been associated with accelerating climate change because they have been significantly heavier than one would normally expect for this time of year.
A section of the road between Meizhou area and Dabu state in Guangdong province reportedly caved on Wednesday around 2.10 am local period.
The affair caused 20 cars to be trapped and involved a total of 54 folks, according to Xinhua.
As of 3.00pm native time,” 24 people have been confirmed dying, and 30 are receiving all- out crisis treatment in hospital”, Xinhua said.
Recovery job was still going on, and the lives of those who were hospitalized were still” not now at risk,” it continued, without going into specifics about their wounds.
wrecked vehicles were discovered in a strong, muddy pit where the bridge after flowed in an aerial photo released by the state broadcaster CCTV.
Along the unchanged stretch of the road, which divides a steep, forested slope, a horde of emergency vehicles and cranes gathered.
Videos that were circulated on social media, which appear to have been shot before sunrise, showed smoke and flames coming from the crater.
” You ca n’t go any further”, a man is heard saying in one video, adding that parts of the road had given way.
AFP was unable to quickly check the videos.
CCTV said the collapse was a “natural geological disaster… ( that occurred ) under the impact of persistent heavy rain”.
A virtually 18-meter stretch of road was reported to have fallen.
Authorities have dispatched about 500 people to the site to help with the recovery operation, CCTV reported.
They are drawn from sections handling public surveillance, emergency response, fire and miners rescue, according to the presenter.
In a see, the local government advised drivers to take detours and declared that some of the S12 bridge was closed in both directions.
STRING OF Tragedies
The event is the most current in a long line of tragedies to be attributed to extreme weather events in Guangdong in recent days.
In a unique state last month, a significant downpour that caused floods that claimed the lives of four persons and forced the departure of over 100, 000 were caused by large storms.
And last week, a rogue storm that ripped through Guangzhou’s conurbation killed five individuals.
According to state media, this kind of flood has never occurred in this area since records began in 1954.
According to Yin Zhijie, the Ministry of Water Resources ‘ main hydrology forecaster, “intensifying climate change” had increased the likelihood of the kind of heavy rains that are normally seen during the summer months.