By Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
AMID heavy downpours in northern China, Stonix News reports that no fewer than 11 persons lost their lives with more than 30 still missing after a bridge collapsed.
Official news agency Xinhua, while citing the provincial public relations department, said the bridge over a river in Shaanxi province’s Shangluo collapsed Friday due to a sudden downpour and flash floods.
Channels TV reported that nearly 20 vehicles and more than 30 people, as of Friday night, remained missing after the highway bridge collapsed into the river below.
All 11 confirmed victims were found inside five vehicles that had so far been recovered from the water.
According to CCTV, large portions of northern and central China have been battered since Tuesday by rains that have caused flooding and significant damage.
On Friday, state media reported at least five people dead and eight missing after the rains sparked flooding and mudslides in Shaanxi’s Baoji city.
State television broadcast images of neighborhoods completely flooded by muddy water, with excavators and residents attempting to clear the damage.
The semi-desert province of Gansu, which neighbours Shaanxi, and Henan in central China were also hit by heavy rains this week.
In the Henan city of Nanyang, the equivalent of a year’s worth of rain fell at the start of the week, according to CCTV.
China is enduring a summer of extreme weather, with heavy rains across the east and south coming as much of the north has sweltered in successive heat waves.
Climate change, which scientists say is exacerbated by greenhouse gas emissions, is making these types of extreme weather phenomena more frequent and more intense.
In May, a highway in southern China collapsed after days of rain, leaving 48 dead.
Earlier this month, a tornado passed through a town in eastern China killing one, injuring 79 and causing significant damage.
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