China Floods

[Coast]

1,300 missing in China amid Asian flood wave

ZHOUQU, China — Rescuers dug through mud and wreckage Monday searching for 1,300 people missing after flash floods and landslides struck northwestern China, just one of a series of floods across Asia that have killed hundreds and spread misery to millions more.

Sunday's disaster in China's Gansu province killed at least 127 people and covered entire villages in water, mud, and rocks.Vehicles carrying aid supplies choked the road Monday over bare, eroded mountains into the remote county seat of Zhouqu. Bodies wrapped in blankets were collected and laid on truck beds, although the government had not updated the death toll since Sunday night.

Work was under way to restore power, water and communications. It was not known how many of the missing were in danger or simply out of contact. Hoping to prevent further disasters, demolitions experts set off three sets of charges to clear debris blocking the Bailong River upstream from the ravaged Zhouqu, which remained largely submerged following Sunday's disaster. The blockage had formed a 2-mile (3-kilometer)-long artificial lake on the river that overflowed in the pre-dawn hours, sending deadly torrents crashing down onto the town. Houses were ripped from their foundations, apartment buildings shattered, and streets covered with a layer of mud and water more than a yard (metre) deep.

This area of China is known to be prone to landslides, worsened by deforestation, erosion and the weakening of cliff faces by the massive 2008 earthquake that struck Sichuan province just to the south.

Authorities were rushing in water, tents, blankets and other emergency supplies, and Premier Wen Jiabao flew to the area on Sunday to oversee relief efforts.State broadcaster CCTV showed Wen comforting victims. At one point he was shown calling out to people waiting to be pulled from their buried home, saying: "Don't move! We're getting you out."

China's worst flooding in a decade has killed more than 1,100 people this year, with more than 600 still missing. The floods have caused tens of billions of dollars in damage across 28 provinces and regions.

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I've opened this new thread for the China floods although a lot of comparisons (and even some links) are being drawn to the current Pakistan and Korea floods, which seem to be equally devastating. Where is all this rain coming from this year?

[Coast]

I guess things are pretty serious when you have to do this:

Troops have begun blasting through rubble from a landslide blocking a river in western China in an attempt to prevent further floods. Torrential rain caused the landslides which hit Zhouqu county in Gansu province on Sunday. Some 127 people are known to have died and almost 1,300 remain missing. Water had begun to build up dangerously behind the landslide dam and the blasts have allowed some water to drain away safely easing the pressure.

Thousands of people who live downstream from the dam have been evacuated

www.bbc.co.uk/news

[ZONE 51]

the 'SOUTHERN OSCILLATION' ENSO/LA NINA is all to do with the MONSOON severity ,LA NINA is building and its likely to impact the weather across large areas, i think their is a conection with these floods and with the Russian heatwave.