South China prepares for flash floods

• Source: Global Times
• [04:25 May 18 2010]
• Comments

The flood turned Xupu county into an isolated island, damaging the only bridge linking the county to the outside area. It stranded 8,000 people.

The local fire department purchased a 1 million yuan ($146,441) Italian-made hovercraft, capable of traveling over land and water, to help rescue people, the newspaper said.

Guangdong reported one person was missing and more than 35,000 people were displaced by the heavy rains, according to Xinhua.

Li Fuliang, a resident in Guangdong who lives on the first floor, told the Global Times Monday that his water-soaked furniture now reeks. He said his family has to bail water from his home every day.

"If it continues to rain like this, I'm afraid one day when I come back from work I would see my sofa floating in the living room," he said.

A total of 86 people were killed and 16 are missing across 10 provinces as of Wednesday.

Over 275,000 people in the southern provinces were relocated.

They experienced economic losses of at least 5.9 billion yuan ($ 864 million), accord-ing to the Ministry of Water Resources.