Torrential rains and floods across the southern half of China have besieged cities and towns for days. Nearly 200 people had died by Friday in drownings, landslides and as buildings collapsed, including 35 buried by a landslide in the far west.
Nearly two million people have been moved to safer ground while swollen rivers and lakes strain dikes and dams. For China’s leaders, the floods are a test of their ability to deliver on their promises of safety for citizens.
The country’s flood defenses have faltered in the past, weakened by neglect and corruption, and Prime Minister Li Keqiang and other leaders have said that this year the government is better prepared than ever.
Yet experts and residents in areas hit by the rains have claimed that local governments have neglected drainage and filled in lakes, leaving cities exposed to greater flooding.
“This year, we’ve seen more flooding persist in urban areas,” said Ke Zhiqiang, a leader of Green City of Rivers , an environmental advocacy group in Wuhan, a city in central China that has been hit hard by the floods along the Yangtze River.
“There’s
a systemic problem. Lakes have been shrinking. Natural drainage has
been damaged,” Mr. Ke said in a telephone interview. “Everyone,
including the government, has become aware that the entire water system
has been hurt by overdevelopment.”
In China, flooding is a perennial problem and has long stood as a test of the ability of rulers to overcome adversity. But the death toll from floods and severe rains each year has generally been going down, helped by more government spending on dikes and other flood protection, as well as efforts to evacuate
areas when waters reach dangerous levels.
In China, flooding is a perennial problem and has long stood as a test of the ability of rulers to overcome adversity. But the death toll from floods and severe rains each year has generally been going down, helped by more government spending on dikes and other flood protection, as well as efforts to evacuate
areas when waters reach dangerous levels.
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