Devastating Floods Hit Guizhou Province: Mass Evacuations and Emergency Response

Severe flooding has claimed six lives in southwest China's Guizhou province, local officials announced on Thursday. The relentless heavy rainfall coupled with upstream inflows caused mass evacuations in Rongjiang and Congjiang counties.

More than 80,000 residents have been forced to leave their homes as authorities escalated the flood control emergency response to Level I, the highest possible. The province's emergency department has mobilized essential disaster relief supplies, distributing 30,000 bottles of drinking water and 10,000 bowls of instant noodles to affected areas through high-speed rail and road networks.

In a related incident, rain-triggered landslides destabilized a section of a bridge on an expressway in Sandu County, though no casualties have been reported, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.

(With inputs from agencies.)