BEIJING: Four people were killed and nine others injured in a flash flood in southwest China on Saturday, local authorities said.
Footage released by Chinese media showed water rising rapidly in a river on the outskirts of the city of Pengzhou in Sichuan province.
Tourists who had been playing in the initially shallow water could be seen running for protection and scaling rocks as the water rushed towards them, but some were unable to reach the river bank in time.
At least one person, a woman stranded on a rock in the middle of the river, appeared to lose her footing and was swept away by the current, according to video posted online by the state-owned Beijing Youth Daily.
“At 7:30 p.m., the mountain flood killed four people, seriously injured three and lightly injured six others,” Pengzhou emergency response authorities said in a statement.
The flooding comes during a summer of extreme weather in China, with several cities including Shanghai recording their hottest days on record during a heatwave in July.
Scientists say extreme weather across the world has become more frequent due to climate change and is likely to become more intense as global temperatures rise.
China’s national observatory has issued a red alert for high temperatures as mercury is expected to top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) across swathes of the country this weekend, state news agency Xinhua reported Saturday.
Severe flooding in southern China in June displaced more than half a million people and caused economic damage estimated at $250 million.
Footage released by Chinese media showed water rising rapidly in a river on the outskirts of the city of Pengzhou in Sichuan province.
Tourists who had been playing in the initially shallow water could be seen running for protection and scaling rocks as the water rushed towards them, but some were unable to reach the river bank in time.
At least one person, a woman stranded on a rock in the middle of the river, appeared to lose her footing and was swept away by the current, according to video posted online by the state-owned Beijing Youth Daily.
“At 7:30 p.m., the mountain flood killed four people, seriously injured three and lightly injured six others,” Pengzhou emergency response authorities said in a statement.
The flooding comes during a summer of extreme weather in China, with several cities including Shanghai recording their hottest days on record during a heatwave in July.
Scientists say extreme weather across the world has become more frequent due to climate change and is likely to become more intense as global temperatures rise.
China’s national observatory has issued a red alert for high temperatures as mercury is expected to top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) across swathes of the country this weekend, state news agency Xinhua reported Saturday.
Severe flooding in southern China in June displaced more than half a million people and caused economic damage estimated at $250 million.
