China: 29 dead, 16 missing after flood hits hebei province

INTERNATIONAL DESK: At least 29 people died and 16 others are missing after the floods hit China’s Hebei Province, causing heavy losses to the region, The Global Times reported.

The natural disaster cost around 95.811 billion Yuan loss to the Hebei provincial authorities announced at a Friday press briefing.

The province’s officials expressed their deep condolences to those who lost their lives in the line of duty and victims of flooding and their affected families. All personnel mourned for the victims at the press briefing on Friday.

The flood situation in Hebei province has become worsened as the heavy rainstorms lasted for a long time and at a high intensity, which caused widespread flooding and resulted in severe disaster situations, Zhang Chengzhong, executive vice governor of Hebei Province said at the press conference.

China’s Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management urgently allocated an additional 1.46 billion yuan in disaster prevention and relief on Friday, according to The Global Times.

This funding will support five provincial-level regions, including Beijing, Tianjin, and the provinces of Hebei, Jilin, and Heilongjiang. The central government has issued a total of 7.738 billion yuan in flood control and disaster relief since the flood season began, according to the Ministry of Finance on Friday.

since the flooding began in the province, the officials are on alert and sent the rescue team to save the victims. Over 1.75 million people have been transferred across the province, including 978,400 people in flood-holding areas. The province will elevate post-disaster reconstruction as a key task and plans to complete the reconstruction work in two years, local officials said.

Authorities vowed to ensure that every affected student can return to school on time before September 1, and ensure that the affected residents can go home or move into new homes before winter. The reconstruction of flood-damaged flood control projects will be completed before the flood season in 2024, and all reconstruction projects will be finished before the start of the 2025 flood season, as per The Global Times.

As of Thursday, 2,237 damaged blocked road sections have been restored. A total of 1,723 10-kilovolt power lines are out of service, among which, 1,631 have been repaired, and those that have not been restored are under full repair, according to the authorities. (ANI)