Severe downpours on Friday and Saturday have stranded many residents at homes and disrupted train and traffic across Guangdong and Jiangxi, prompting local authorities in the southern and eastern provinces to take emergency measures.
On Saturday morning, some trains on the Beijing-Guangzhou route through Shaoguan and Yingde cities in northern Guangdong were canceled or rerouted due to the heavy rain, leaving many passengers stranded at Shaoguan East Railway Station.
The railway authority quickly organized shuttle buses to transport affected passengers to the Shaoguan Railway Station, where six high-speed trains were deployed to ferry passengers to Guangzhou South Railway Station.
The first group of 930 passengers arrived at the Guangzhou South Railway Station in the morning. Additional staff and volunteers were on hand to assist vulnerable passengers at the station.
In Shaoguan City, intense rainfall over the last 24 hours has resulted in significant urban waterlogging and disruptions to several national and provincial roads.
Emergency responders including firefighters and armed police have been relocating residents and conducting road repairs.
According to the weather bureau, the heavy rainfall is expected to persist until Monday.
Meanwhile, the province of Jiangxi has issued an orange alert, the third highest in China's four-tier rainstorm warning system. In Dingnan County of Ganzhou City, water levels in small to medium rivers have risen significantly, leading to flooding in some areas.
Local sanitation workers have been urgently clearing clogged sewers in waterlogged areas to drain floodwater and maintain traffic flow.
"We are clearing clogged sewers one by one to ensure that rainwater can drain quickly. We're also intensifying patrols on key roads to promptly deal with any blockages or drainage," said Li Ning, director of the Sanitation Office at the Urban Management Bureau of Dingnan County.
Since Friday night, much of Jiangxi has experienced heavy rainfall which has caused river and reservoir levels to rise.
In preemptive actions, several medium to large reservoirs in the cities of Ganzhou and Xinyu were opened to discharge water, aiming to reduce pressure and mitigate potential flooding.
As of 13:00 on Saturday, water levels of all large- and medium-sized reservoirs in Jiangxi were below flood limits, so were the levels of major rivers in the province.
Heavy rain causes flooding, disrupts traffic in Guangdong, Jiangxi
