Four die, 64,000 evacuated

China-N Korea border floods:

CHINA: Four died and more than 64,000 were evacuated in China as heavy rain sparked serious floods along the North Korean border, with Pyongyang’s state media warning of “devastating” consequences.

Downpours swelled the Yalu river which forms the border between the two countries to untenable levels, sending floodwaters into homes on both sides of the frontier, state media in both nations said.

In the northeast Chinese city of Dandong, more than 64,000 people were evacuated, the Xinhua state news agency reported Sunday. About 230 homes collapsed and some transport, power and communication links have been cut off.

A couple in their 70s and a mother and son died in Kuandian County, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Dandong, when flash floods swept away their homes, Xinhua said, citing a local flood control official.

The transport ministry said in a statement that it had sent civilian helicopters to pluck a group of about 90 stranded residents from their flooded homes.

While an official at Dandong’s flood control headquarters insisted that the situation was “not serious” in the city of 2.4 million, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Sinuiju across the border was “severely affected”.

Floodwaters had inundated all houses, public buildings and farmland in three sectors of Sinuiju — home to a North Korean military airbase — and nearby rural communities, KCNA reported, without saying how many people were affected.

Provincial and local officials joined military personnel in rescue efforts, the North’s media said.

In China, some roads were submerged along the Yalu and houses in Dandong were flooded with water that was knee-deep after heavy rain which began early Friday, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing the city government.

Beijing, Sunday, FP