On Tuesday, Beijing allocated more than 1 billion yuan (US$139 million) in disaster relief for Guangdong and the northern province of Hebei, as well as the capital, Beijing, and the northern region of Inner Mongolia, state news agency Xinhua said, including subsidies for damage to grain-growing areas.
Extreme rainfall swept at least five people to their deaths in Guangdong over the weekend, triggering a large-scale search effort by more than 1,300 rescuers.
Sixteen rivers across Guangdong threaten to breach their banks, with water levels at two sites reaching their highest since 2017 and 2018.
The worst may be yet to come, with two to three typhoons expected to strike in August, emergency management authorities said on Tuesday.
DISEASE OUTBREAK
The city of Foshan west of Guangzhou has been the epicentre of the province’s Chikungunya outbreak, while at least a dozen more have reported infections, which typically cause fever and severe joint pain, though deaths are rare.
The next few weeks are especially daunting for disease prevention and control, say provincial authorities, after the flood season, worsened by typhoons and heavy rain, boosted mosquito activity.
Spread by the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes, global infections of the disease number at least 240,000 this year.
In a travel notice for Guangdong, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has urged “enhanced” precautions by visitors.
Source: CNA
