FOURTEEN people died in Shulan in Northeast China’s Jilin Province over the weekend due to flooding caused by Typhoon Doksuri, local authorities said. Northeast China, Beijing and Hebei Province have seen heavy rainfall and floods since the typhoon made landfall in Fujian Province two weeks ago. Three officials, who were engaged in emergency rescue and disaster relief operations, were among the dead in Shulan, including Luo Xudong, a vice mayor of the city of about 587,000 people, State broadcaster CCTV reported late Sunday. Power was also restored to many flood-hit areas of Beijing and Hebei Province. Efforts to resume power in the northeastern provinces Jilin, Heilongjiang and Liaoning were ongoing, CCTV said. The city of Zhuozhou, one of the areas in Hebei hit hardest by unprecedentedly heavy rainfall and flooding, has shifted its focus from first response to extensive disinfection and post-disaster cleanup. Over the weekend, videos and pictures circulated on social media showing many dead animals and lots of scattered trash on the streets. This showed an urgent need for disinfection as the floodwaters gradually recede in various parts of the city, China Daily reported The city’s center for disease control and prevention said that it had dispatched 15 teams to local towns and temporary shelters to guide disinfection and infectious disease prevention and control efforts. These teams provided detailed explanations to front-line staff on the proportions and use of disinfectants, it said. Meanwhile, the emergency management department of Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province has allocated batches of disaster relief supplies to the flood-hit areas amid the latest round of floods. The Ministry of Emergency Management and the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration have urgently allocated family emergency kits and other disaster relief materials to Heilongjiang to meet the needs of those in the flood-hit areas. The typhoon-induced heavy rains have kept pushing the water level of dozens of rivers in Heilongjiang above the warning mark in recent days. As of 8 a.m. Sunday, the water level of 24 rivers in the province exceeded the warning mark by 4 cm to 2.51 meters, said the provincial hydrology and water resources center. (SD News) | 