Guangzhou landslide victims sought; Zhengzhou raises flood control alert

Search and rescue efforts for people trapped following a landslide at a village in Baiyun district in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, are still underway despite heavy rainfall affecting the area.

The landslide occurred at around 8:30 am in Dayuan village, in the northern mountainous area of Guangzhou. As of Thursday evening, 10 out of 14 people trapped in the landslide had been recovered.

Among those recovered, at least two were confirmed dead and seven were injured, with the injured reportedly in stable condition, according to local emergency management authorities.

The landslide occurred after days of unrelenting heavy rainfall, damaging several houses in the village, said authorities.

On Thursday, excavators were seen lifting cars from the rubble at the site. By around 2 pm, the Baiyun district had issued a yellow warning for thunderstorms and strong winds.

Despite the heavy rainfall, rescue and disaster relief efforts continued with mechanical equipment and firefighters working in shifts while rescue workers demolished damaged houses at the site.

"It was raining heavily at the time, and we were asked to evacuate immediately," a resident surnamed He recalled.

She described how, at around 8:30 am on Wednesday, she and her husband held the difficult discussion of evacuating their home, only to witness the collapse of the building on the right side of their house shortly afterward.

"The house collapsed quickly — unlike earthquakes, landslides don't make much noise," He said in an interview with Guangzhou Daily.

After the landslide, village committee workers went door-to-door to check on residents who might have missed the evacuation notices, according to He.

Prior to the landslide, workers from the village committee had noticed a significant amount of yellow muddy water overflowing on the hill behind houses, indicating something was wrong.

They immediately organized an emergency evacuation, banging drums and knocking on doors to ask residents to leave their houses.

"The landslide happened in a very short time, and houses collapsed very suddenly," He said.

After the landslide, Dayuan subdistrict authorities immediately activated their emergency response mechanism, evacuating nearby residents.

As of Wednesday evening, 3,371 people had been evacuated, according to emergency management authorities.

Heavy rainfall experienced between Saturday and Wednesday also affected the rail network in the area. The China Railway Guangzhou Group promptly initiated emergency plans that included suspending some trains when required and initiating speed restrictions to maintain transportation safety. The railway group also operated 20 additional high-speed special trains and assisted 32,715 passengers stranded by the heavy rainfall. By Thursday, affected railway lines in Guangdong had been fully restored.

In Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, the local government raised a flood control alert on Thursday and ordered a citywide suspension of production, business operations and school programs as heavy rain continued to batter the region.

At 1:20 pm on Thursday, the Zhengzhou Meteorological Service issued a red rainstorm warning, the highest in the system, reporting that some districts had already received more than 100 millimeters of rain.

The city's flood control authority upgraded its response from Level IV to Level III at 1 pm and imposed mandatory suspensions of urban activities, including outdoor events.

By 2:15 pm, local traffic police had set up roadblocks and traffic controls along the hardest-hit intersections, deploying additional officers to manage hazards and guide motorists.