Local emergency forces have conducted swift rescue operations and timely evacuations after heavy rainfall unleashed flood in various regions of China for the past few days.
On Sunday, most of Shanghai experienced a spate of heavy rainfall reaching more than 50 millimeters in six hours, and a hospital in the city's suburban Jiading District was seriously flooded, with the floodwater reaching as deep as 40 centimeters.
With the muddy water menacing the hospital main entrance, the local fire department dispatched emergency personnel to drain the standing water. The drainage work was completed in two hours.
A severe flood also hit a village in Guangde City of east China's Anhui Province on Sunday, trapping two residents in waist-deep waters.
Upon receiving an emergency call, firefighters reached the scene and used ropes to bring the stranded people to safety.
In the urban area of Huaihua City in central China's Hunan Province, flooding submerged houses and trapping residents, including an elderly man in water up to his neck.
Rescue forces navigated rubber rafts through the flooded area and reached the location of the residents, then pulled them onto the rafts and transferred them to a safe area.
In the city's Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County, the flood, which caused standing water as deep as two meters, trapped three people in a factory building. Firefighters on rubber rafts and searched and called out in the factory area, and soon reached the location of the stranded people. All trapped individuals were rescued within half an hour.
Continuous heavy rainfall also swept across Congjiang County of southwest China's Guizhou Province from 20:00 Wednesday to 12:00 Monday. Facing the extreme weather, local officials took prompt action to carry out flood prevention, emergency rescue and relief work.
As of 11:00 Monday, a total of 2,520 people were evacuated to safe locations across the county.
Crews conduct emergency rescues, evacuations in heavy floods
China and Kazakhstan have witnessed an upsurge in people-to-people and cultural exchanges in recent years, a development that Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed in a signed article published in Kazakh media outlets prior to his visit to the central Asian country.
Xi arrived for a state visit to Kazakhstan on Tuesday, where he will also attend the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
On the same day, the signed article from the Chinese president was published in the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper and Kazinform International News Agency under the title "Staying True to Our Shared Commitment and Opening a New Chapter in China-Kazakhstan Relations."
In the article, Xi highlighted the enduring friendship between the Chinese and Kazakh peoples, citing an example involving Chinese musician Xian Xinhai and Kazakh composer Bakhytzhan Baikadamov.
Over 80 years ago, Xian and Baikadamov met and became close and devoted friends despite their different nationalities and languages.
"In 1943, my father happened to meet Xian Xinghai, who was sitting on a box holding a violin. Seeing how helpless and homeless Xian was, my father took his hand and brought him home," Baikadamova's daughter Baldyrgan said.
Xi also mentioned the much-respected Kazakh ophthalmologist Saulebek Kabibekov, who treated more than 200,000 patients during his 25-year stay in northeastern China.
There was also a nod to the hugely popular Kazakh singer Dimash Kudaibergen, who took China by storm after he won the second place in a popular reality singing competition, "Singer 2017", and later had the chance to meet Xi.
"I first met President Xi in 2017. After the performance, he came to me and told me about his impressions [of] my work and musical journey in China. Since then, I've been exploring Chinese culture and history which, of course, has inspired me infinitely," said Kudaibergen.
People-to-people exchanges between the two countries have also become more frequent since mutual visa-exemption arrangements took effect last year, facilitating greater travel between the two sides.
Last year, a total of 600,000 cross-border trips were recorded. In the first quarter of 2024, the number of visits in both directions had already amounted to 200,000 and are expected to reach a new high by the end of the year.
China, Kazakhstan see upsurge in people-to-people, cultural exchanges
