Beijing, June 21 (UNI) As the southern China witnessed its heaviest rainfall in 60 years, 12 people were killed torrential rains in Henan Province as of Tuesday while thousands of people were evacuated amid floods and landslides.
Global Times quoted media reports as stating that from 8 pm Saturday to 8 pm Tuesday, precipitation in Zhengzhou had reached 617.1 millimeters with hourly and daily precipitation both breaking 60-year records.
Heavy rain is forecast to persist until Tuesday in the southern provinces of Guizhou, Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang and Guangxi and then move northward, CNN reported.
The National Meteorological Center of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) on Monday had issued five national-level meteorological alerts - orange warnings for heat wave, and flash flood, a blue warning for rainfall, and two other yellow alerts for thunderstorms, high winds or hail and fog.
About 14 flood warnings were issued at the local-level.
The Ministry of Water Resources said that 85 rivers across the country experienced floods more than the warning level since Sunday till Monday.
The Global Times quoted Wang Hongwei, a professor at Renmin University of China's School of Public Administration and Policy, as saying that the emergency departments have been fully prepared to cope with meteorological disasters, more so than last year when severe floods hit Henan Province.
Meanwhile, several rescue workers in places such as Guangdong, Yunnan and Guizhou have died while evacuating the locals.
Around next week, another round of rain is likely in some parts of China, weather podcasts said.
UNI RNJ