China: at least 21 dead after torrential rains

Torrential rains in central China have left at least 21 people dead, state television said Friday, after devastating floods in July that had already killed more than 300 people.

Hubei province, located a thousand kilometers west of Shanghai, has been hit by heavy rains since Wednesday.

The locality of Yicheng was particularly affected with a record of more than 400 mm of precipitation in one day Thursday, according to the national television CCTV.

Images showed the city’s main arteries submerged by a torrent of muddy water and homes surrounded. Rescuers evacuated residents with waist-deep water at night, while other residents took refuge in the shovel of a bulldozer.

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Bad weather in Hubei caused landslides, destroyed hundreds of homes and resulted in the evacuation of nearly 6,000 people, according to the provincial Emergency Management Bureau.