Record-breaking rainfall and the ensuing floods in parts of Nanning, the capital city of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, had left four people dead and eight others missing as of 10:00 Tuesday, according to a press conference on flood prevention and disaster relief held in Nanning.
Hengzhou City and Binyang County, both currently under the jurisdiction of Nanning, recently experienced rainfall that shattered local 24-hour precipitation records. All of the reported fatalities and missing persons were in Hengzhou.
In Hengzhou, a total of 84,700 residents have been affected by the disaster, with 53,808 evacuated. Authorities are continuing efforts to relocate another 660 people.
In Binyang County, 8,606 have been affected, and all 8,150 requiring evacuation have been relocated.
Guangxi upgraded its flood alert to the highest-level red warning at 07:00 on Tuesday.
By 07:00, water levels at 70 monitoring stations on 55 rivers across the region remained between 0.01 and 7.46 meters above warning levels.
The regional hydrology center warned that high water levels would persist in several river sections over the next 24 hours.
The casualties and evacuations came as Typhoon Maysak brought torrential rains to most parts of Nanning between 08:00 on Saturday and 11:00 on Monday.
As of Monday evening, the Guangxi Fire and Rescue Bureau had deployed over 600 fire and rescue personnel, along with over 150 fire engines and 70 boats for rescue operations, while power supply workers have been working around the clock to support rescue operations.
"We're running 24-hour rotating shifts so everyone gets some rest. The command post is running on mobile generators for now, which covers our needs, and we've also got a backup generator truck on standby," said Liang Jianyu, a staff member with the Hengzhou Power Supply Bureau.
Meanwhile, relief supplies and aerial surveys are being mobilized to support search and rescue operations and assess damage in the hardest-hit areas. The central government has dispatched 150,000 relief items, including tents and folding beds, to help the affected residents.
"Light rain and heavy fog on-site, combined with the aircraft's low flying altitude, have limited our operational radius to about five kilometers. Next, we will conduct distributed patrols at several severely affected points and map out the entire area to provide an accurate reflection of the disaster situation, which will help the fire and rescue efforts," said Liang Juze, a staff member from a local tech company.
Four dead, eight missing after torrential rain hits south China's Guangxi
