Torrential rain triggers urban flooding

Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, has been receiving its biggest rainfall of the year since Thursday, forcing the city to grapple with urban flooding. Precipitation has reached up to 190 mm thus far and rain-triggered floods have seriously disrupted road traffic, said Jiang Kaili, deputy director of the municipal flood control office. Cars and taxis have become submerged and more than 200 inundated buses have been rendered unusable. Jiang said the city's drainage system has failed, resulting in floods in many areas in the city proper. Water levels on the nearby Panlong River exceeded the height of a river bank near Shilichangjie Street on Friday, according to the city's drainage company. Other rivers that traverse the city, such as the Jinzhen and Daguan rivers, have also seen drastic increases in water levels. The rain is continuing to batter the city. According to a provincial weather forecast, it will continue until July 25. The city government on Friday initiated an emergency response for flood control. More than 300 relief workers have joined in disaster relief efforts. A spokesman with the Kunming railway bureau said trains departing from Kunming were operating as usual as of noon Friday, but those destined to arrive in the city from the cities of Shanghai, Xiamen, Nanjing, Guilin and Qujing have been delayed. Heavy rain has also hit the province's cities of Lijiang and Qujing, as well as Honghe Hani Autonomous Prefecture. In Chongqing Municipality, also in southwest China, water levels on the Yangtze River are expected to reach 21.79 meters around 2 p.m. Saturday, according to the municipal marine bureau. Such levels will be 10 meters higher than those seen on Thursday, threatening the safety of passing ships. Rescue ships and marine workers have been organized to stand by in the event of an emergency. Heavy rain since Tuesday has also triggered floods in Hunchun in northeast China's Jilin Province. Officials with the water resources department of the city said 150 people from 15 villages in Hadamen Township have been relocated, as seven houses were toppled and 300 others were damaged in the floods. Roads, a bridge and the embankment of a river were destroyed and 58 hectares of crops were damaged, resulting in direct economic losses of 1.18 million yuan (190,000 U.S. dollars), the officials said. The township government is repairing the river embankment to prepare for more rain expected on Saturday. In neighboring Liaoning Province, two rounds of torrential rain since Monday have flooded more than 50 reservoirs, according to a statement from the provincial flood control and disaster relief headquarters. Another two rounds of rain are expected to hit the province by July 23, posing a continued flood risk. The provincial traffic department has ordered traffic workers to inspect 34,000 bridges in the province and make necessary repairs, said Liu Huanxin, chief of the department. The order came after a bridge collapsed on Tuesday following two days of heavy rain in the city of Fuxin, leaving four people dead.