According to official media, the number of fatalities from this week’s intense rains and flooding in Guangdong province, southern China, increased to 38 on Friday.
“Due to the severity of the disaster… the search and rescue of trapped people is difficult and time-consuming,” state broadcaster CCTV reported. “As of 15:00 on June 21, the disaster caused 38 deaths with two people missing.”
This summer, China has had a wave of extreme weather, with floods in the south occurring concurrently with a heatwave that raced across the north.
This week’s downpours in the highly populated Guangdong region caused landslides and inundations, with record-breaking floods in certain regions.
Authorities reported nine fatalities in the Meizhou area on Thursday, but by mid-afternoon on Friday, the number had risen to 38.
