China Intensifies Efforts to Rescue Residents in Zhuozhou Flooded by Typhoon Doksuri

Illustration of floods in China. (Wikimedia Commons/Huangdan2060)

JAKARTA - Chinese authorities on Wednesday dispatched thousands of rescue workers to Zhuozhou, a flood-hit city of more than 600,000 residents southwest of Beijing, as the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri continue to ravage parts of the city.

The city of Zhuozhou is in Hebei Province, which has been hit by the worst storm to hit northern China in a decade, leaving around 20 people dead.

The city also borders Beijing, which saw the heaviest rainfall in 140 years between Saturday and early Wednesday, according to official data.

Authorities in Hebei have declared a state of emergency as rainfall has averaged 355 mm (14 inches) since Saturday, the highest rainfall since at least July 2012. More than 134,000 residents of Zhuozhou have been affected, with more than one-sixth of the city's population evacuated.

A confluence of several rivers, Zhuozhou is one of the worst flood-affected cities in Hebei as floodwaters migrate downstream, according to state media, inundating residential areas and affecting nearly 650 hectares of farmland.

The local public safety bureau said on Tuesday the city was facing water shortages and a partial power outage, adding the city urgently needed rafts, life jackets and emergency supplies.

In response, some 9,000 rescue workers have been dispatched to Zhuozhou, with more teams arriving from neighboring Henan and Shanxi provinces, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Separately, many Zhuozhou residents took to social media to complain about the lengthy rescue and recovery efforts.

"We received flood water discharge from Beijing, so they should provide us with rescue equipment, but nothing yet," wrote one netizen on Weibo.

The flood also hit warehouses in the city which is the logistics center. Hebei authorities said they had opened a flood diversion area on the Yongding River on Wednesday to help relieve flooding.

As the flood waters flowed south, authorities in Gaobeidian City have evacuated 113,000 residents, as well as opened a reservoir to collect excess water, according to the Xinhua report.