Posted on 08/08/2010 6:46:44 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
127 killed as mudslides devastate China town
Landslides triggered by torrential summer rains in northwest China killed 127 people and left 2,000 missing in the latest of a series of flood-related disasters to befall northern China where the heaviest rains in a decade have now cost more than 1,400 lives.
By Peter Foster in Beijing
Published: 9:22AM BST 08 Aug 2010
A small county town in a hilly area of Gansu province was smashed by a wave of mud and debris shortly after midnight on Saturday, according to local reports, with cars being swept down streets that were instantly turned into rivers.
In parts of Zhouqu town the mud reached as high as the third storey of buildings, with many other smaller single-storey lifted from their foundations by the force of the landslide, according to China Central Television, the state broadcaster.
A nearby village of 300 households was also inundated.
"Many single-story homes have been wiped out and now we're waiting to see how many people got out," one resident of Zhouqu, a merchant called Han Jiangping said.
China's premier Wen Jiabao travelled to the town, which has a population of 40,000, while nearly 3,000 troops were dispatched to assist with rescue efforts on Sunday morning that were hampered by a metre-thick layer of sludge deposited by the waters.
"The sludge has become the biggest problem to rescue operations," said Diemujiangteng, the head of Zhouqu county who goes by a single name, "It's too thick to walk or drive through."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
P!
RIP.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.