Continuous rain in Shanxi result in dozens of villages washed away by landslides

In recent days, continuous rain in many cities and counties in China’s Shanxi Province has caused landslides, flooding rivers, washed away countless houses and forced the suspension of railway transportation along the Longhai Line. Heavy rains caused the Changyuan River in Qi County to rise and flood waters washed away roadbeds, according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency. Changyuan River bridge collapsed, causing the southern Tongpu Railway Changyuan River bridge suspended the railway operation, causing no casualties.

A villager in Pu County, Linfen, said most of the houses and Wells in her village were destroyed by mud: “In Chengguan village and Gupo village, many houses collapsed, Wells collapsed, water cannot drink and no one, the village party secretary does not care, cadres do not care. Yesterday, our pond collapsed and all the water pipes in our village were broken. We in this village beg the county government, beg the provincial government, they don’t answer the phone, we make our own arrangements.”

Torrential rain also hit Jiexiu, another worst-hit area, where thousands of homes were destroyed by floods and mud. Mr. Wang, a local villager, said that two dangerous houses collapsed, causing casualties: “In Houdang Fishing village, there are still one-third of the people who did not move, but also the dangerous houses collapsed, and people died; There are two places, one is Lianfu town, the other is Zhanglan town, which village I don’t know. The dangerous houses are all in the empty areas of the coal mine. They were not moved in time and people stayed inside, but the authorities did not allow the report.”

The downpours were reported by China’s official media CCTV and Xinhua News Agency, as well as by media across Shanxi. Shanxi Province launched a level iii emergency response to the geological disaster, but the living conditions of the affected villagers have not been reported. Mr Huang, the Shanxi academic, told that this was the usual pattern: “Their usual pattern is how important a certain level of leadership is, how the central government gives instructions, what meetings are held, they come to the scene and say what must be done, that’s the pattern. They never tell you how many people have died.

Ms. Sun, a villager in Yizhou, said they have not watched TV news for a long time, for a simple reason: “I don’t believe the media, I never watch TV. Is there any truth in what they say on TV? The truth is impossible to tell. It is nothing more than a paean. Who does not know true or false, always lie, people will always believe ah?”

At noon on October 6th, the rain stopped in most parts of Shanxi. The Shanxi Meteorological Bureau lifted a level 4 emergency response to the rainstorm that had lasted nearly 90 hours, the People Daily reported. From 2 to 7 this month at 8 o ‘clock, the process precipitation in Shanxi Province ranged from 15.4 to 285.2 mm, with the maximum precipitation occurring in Daning. Eighteen counties and districts in Shanxi saw precipitation of more than 200 mm, and 51 counties (cities and districts) saw precipitation between 100 and 200 mm.