Hundreds of rescue workers are engaged in a desperate search for around two dozen vehicles missing in China after heavy rains caused a highway bridge to collapse, killing at least 11 people.
Chinese President Xi Jinping was briefed on the operation and urged rescue teams to “make all-out efforts” to find survivors. China’s national fire and rescue agency said it had deployed a team of more than 850 personnel, 90 vehicles, 20 boats and 41 drones to the search effort.
A highway bridge in Shangluo city in northwestern Shaanxi province collapsed at around 8:40pm local time on Friday, sending an estimated 25 vehicles plummeting into the swollen river downstream.
Authorities said 11 bodies had been recovered from five vehicles as of Saturday morning, but as daylight drew on, Xinhua reported that no more vehicles had been recovered and that an estimated 30 people were still missing and feared dead.
Pictures released by state media showed part of the bridge breaking off at an almost 90-degree angle, falling into the brown, flowing water below.
One witness told state media that as he approached the bridge, other drivers “started yelling at him to brake and stop the car,” according to AFP.
“The truck in front of me didn’t stop and went into the water,” he said.
Xi urged local authorities to take responsibility at a critical time for flood control in the region, and ordered them to strengthen monitoring and early warning systems.
Heavy rains have slammed wide swaths of western and southwestern China in recent days, triggering floods in the mountainous region, which is particularly prone to landslides due to its many fast-flowing rivers.
China’s Three Gorges Dam, the largest in the country, was placed on high alert last week after dozens of rivers burst their banks, flooding townships.
At least six people are reported dead in the neighborhood. Chongqing Flooding has occurred in 12 districts and upazilas and water levels in 29 rivers have risen since Thursday.
Floods and heavy rains left another 30 people missing and around 40 homes damaged in the southwestern province of Sichuan on Saturday, Xinhua reported.
In Hanyuan county, the hardest hit in Sichuan province, both road and communications infrastructure were damaged or destroyed, complicating rescue efforts, and teams had been working since dawn to restore communications networks and clear debris from the highway.
From record-breaking heat waves to unprecedented rainfall, China has faced an increase in extreme weather events in recent years. National response capacity Affected by the climate crisis.
Nearly a year’s worth of rain lashed small towns in Henan province on Tuesday. Dafengying recorded 606.7 mm (24 inches) of rainfall in 24 hours, the most in China, according to national weather forecasters. The area’s annual average rainfall is 800 mm.
The change in rainfall patterns coincides with a dramatic decline in economic growth in China over the past few decades as the country built a vast network of highways, high-speed rail and airports even in the most remote parts of the country.
The economic slowdown has led governments and industry to cut corners in their efforts to continue expanding networks, resulting in an increase in poor quality infrastructure and poor safety controls.
