Flood wreaks havoc in NE China

In hard-hit Shulan, 9 killed, including city's vice-mayor

After wreaking havoc in parts of Hebei province and Beijing, remnants of Typhoon Doksuri continued on their path, causing damage and endangering lives in the country's northeastern region over the past few days.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Water Resources updated the flood response level in north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region and northeast China's Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces.

The emergency response was raised to Level 3 of China's four-tier flood-control emergency response system as heavy rainfall since last Wednesday has triggered excessive flooding in areas.

Shulan, a city in Jilin province, is one of the hardest-hit places in Northeast China. As of Sunday, nine people had been killed and one remained missing there — Shulan's vice-mayor Luo Xudong is among the dead.

Continuous heavy rainfall began in the city the night of Aug 1, and as of 3 pm Friday the precipitation had reached 111.7 millimeters. The rain has caused floods, bridge collapses and road damage.

Jin Wenhua, a woman in her 60s in Shulan's town of Jinma, said she had never in her life seen such heavy rains and that it was very distressing. She and her husband are now at a temporary relocation site.

Liu Mengda, deputy head of Jinma, and who is in charge of two temporary sites for relocated villagers, said they started moving villagers at 11 pm Friday and by 3 am Saturday, 214 had been safely relocated.

"We've prepared drinking water, food, basic supplies and medical supplies to meet their needs," he said. "I have seven colleagues with me who can sleep two or three hours these days. I haven't slept well for three days."