STORY: China mobilizes swift efforts to combat floods
SHOOTING TIME: Recent footage
DATELINE: July 24, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:59
LOCATION: Beijing
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the areas hit by floods in Zhashui and Ya'an, China

STORYLINE:

China is mobilizing nationwide efforts to combat torrential rains, heavy flooding and other natural disasters as the country has entered the critical annual flood season, which normally runs from late July to early August.

Over the past weeks, heavy rainfall has wreaked havoc across wide swathes of China, causing casualties, disrupting traffic and forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate.

Last Friday, more than 20 vehicles plunged into a river after a 40-meter section of a highway bridge went down in Zhashui County in China's Shaanxi Province, following a flash flood triggered by a heavy rainstorm.

As of Sunday evening, the bodies of 15 victims had been found.

In another deadly disaster caused by downpours, flash flooding of a local river in Ya'an City in China's Sichuan Province, seriously damaged over 40 houses in a village on Saturday.

By Monday evening, rescue workers had found the bodies of 14 people, with 25 others still missing. 

In response to the natural disasters that have affected various parts of China, central and local authorities are moving swiftly to allocate all resources at their disposal on relief and restoration efforts, while taking measures to identify potential risks and brace for secondary disasters.

On Sunday, the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, said that it has allocated 350 million yuan (about 49.08 million U.S. dollars) from the central budget to aid disaster relief and restoration efforts in the flood-stricken Henan, Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces.

The money will be used to fund the emergency recovery of flood-damaged schools, hospitals, flood control facilities and more in these three provinces.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beijing.
(XHTV)