Guangdong Floods Claim 38 Lives Amid Historic Rains!

The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in southern China’s Guangdong province rose sharply to 38 on Friday, state media reported.

Heavy rains have caused landslides and floods throughout the week, destroying thousands of homes and roads and causing billions of yuan worth of damage, state broadcaster CCTV said. Some areas have experienced “once-a-century flooding… or the biggest since historical records began,” according to CCTV.

Authorities reported on Thursday that nine people had been killed, but the toll jumped to 38 by mid-afternoon on Friday. “Due to the severity of the disaster… the search and rescue of trapped people is difficult and time-consuming,” CCTV stated.

More than 55,000 people have been affected by the rains, CCTV added.

The torrential rains in the south coincided with soaring temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in much of northern China this week.

Scientists say climate change makes extreme weather, such as heavy rains and heatwaves, more frequent and intense. Greenhouse gases are a major cause of climate change, and China is the world’s biggest emitter.