The intense floods recorded at the beginning of July in the autonomous region of Guangxi, in southern China, following the passage of Typhoon Maysak, have caused the death of at least 159 people and the disappearance of another ten, according to the latest report released this Friday by local authorities.
The torrential and continuous rains linked to this meteorological phenomenon have impacted more than 1.65 million inhabitants in the cities of Nanning, the regional capital, and Guigang. Both cities have already begun to concentrate their efforts on the recovery of the affected areas and on strengthening their emergency prevention and response systems, as noted by the Xinhua news agency.
In Nanning, the floods have reached 90 municipalities and sub-districts belonging to eleven districts and district-level cities, with about 579,700 affected residents. Of them, around 23,300 have been evacuated to safe areas, while another 78,300 have been relocated to temporary accommodations.
In Guigang, the floods affected approximately 1.073 million people distributed among five districts and district-level cities. Emergency teams evacuated about 205,000 people and moved another 15,000 to shelters, while 23 fatalities have been confirmed.
During the meetings convened to organize the reconstruction tasks, participants observed a minute of silence in memory of the deceased.
The authorities of Nanning have set a goal to restore the basic functioning conditions of the city within six months and to complete the main reconstruction works after the disaster in approximately one year.
For its part, Guigang will focus its priorities on preventing new floods in urban areas and on strengthening the safety of reservoirs, with the aim of recovering normalcy as soon as possible.
The precipitation that caused the disaster has been described as exceptionally intense and prolonged for this region. The arrival of Typhoon Maysak at the beginning of July thus triggered one of the most severe flooding episodes recorded in recent times in this part of Guangxi.