Hu: Saving Lives the Top Priority for Flood Relief

Chinese President Hu Jintao Friday said that saving lives must be the top priority for flood relief work in south China's Hainan Province.

Hu, also General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said people who were threatened by floods should be rapidly relocated, and measures should be taken to prevent secondary disasters and reduce losses.

China's meteorological authorities forecast Friday that extreme heavy rains, which have caused the worst flooding in decades in the southern island province of Hainan, would end by Monday.

But the country's National Meteorological Center (NMC) said more rain storms would hit the island Friday and Saturday. Torrential rains were also forecast for the southern Guangdong and southwestern Yunnan provinces.

From September 30 to October 8, Hainan saw 608.1 millimeters of rainfall, the highest on record, a statement from the NMC said.

More than 210,000 people had been evacuated after about 1,160 villages were submerged by floodwaters as of Thursday.

Tourist numbers at 10 major scenic areas in Hainan were down 24 percent year on year over the week-long National Day break, which ended on October 7, according to the provincial tourism bureau.

The heaviest torrential rains since 1961 had caused estimated economic losses of 1.13 billion yuan ($169 million), a provincial disaster control official said Thursday.

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2010)