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Flooding takes heavy toll in China, India and Bangladesh
July 26, 1996
Web posted at: 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT)(CNN) -- About 1,500 people have died in floods that are sweeping across vast areas of central and southern China. And in the southeastern part of the country residents are bracing for more rains and flooding from Typhoon Gloria.
The China Daily said the latest flood victims drowned in Hubei province and in southwestern Guangxi.
Severe floods have also killed some 200 people in India and Bangladesh and left millions homeless.
In Wuhan in southeastern China, bare-chested Chinese police and volunteers braved summer heat Friday to man dikes holding in the rain-swollen waters of the Yangtze and vowed to sacrifice their lives to ensure the river does not flood.
"Under any circumstances, we will ensure the water does not enter Wuhan," Huang Jianguo, deputy chief engineer of the Hubei Water Conservancy Bureau told reporters in the provincial capital, one of China's major industrial cities.
The Yangtze, Asia's longest river, was swollen to 28 meters (94 ft), its highest level since 1954, and millions of troops and volunteers guarded its protective dikes to prevent the river from bursting its banks.
Heavy losses
Floods had devastated Hubei where 300 km (190 miles) of dikes had been destroyed and 2.7 million hectares (6.6 million acres) of arable land inundated, Huang said.
Tens of thousands of people were sick or injured and 395 had died while 2.36 million were stranded by the waters, he said.
"It must not rain further," he said. "Rescue workers are tired. They have been fighting the floods for a long time and more and more are getting sick. This is what we are afraid of. But we are determined to win the battle against this disaster."
Flooding in India, Bangladesh
In India, monsoon floods have affected more than five million people in the country's north and east. Officials say at least 90 people have died in the Indian state of West Bengal and 60 in Assam, both of which border Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh, officials have estimated at least 65 have died, mostly in the north, but the central flood office in Dhaka has confirmed only 22 deaths from the monsoon.
Most rivers were flowing above danger levels on Friday, officials said.
Flood monitoring officials said Friday that 37 out of Bangladesh's 64 administrative districts were now gripped by floods, affecting some 30 million people including five million around Dhaka.
Boats, rickshaws and pushcarts floated on flooded streets while residents in densely populated areas perched on rooftops.
Some people huddled on bamboo platforms or on boats, eyewitnesses said.
"We are living a nomadic life," said Moham Miah, who shifted his family three times this week. His boat-turned-home housed his wife, three children, two goats, a dog and several chickens.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- U.S. to aid Chinese flood victims - July 23, 1996
- China flooding: 'The worst is yet to come' - July 22, 1996
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