More than 4,000 residents in Xiangtan County of Hunan Province, central China, were transferred to safety on Monday, after dike breaches along local rivers led to massive flooding.
Recent heavy rainfall led to three dikes in Xiangtan County bursting, with two breaches on Sunday evening, and a third at midday on Monday.
By early Tuesday morning, all affected residents had been successfully evacuated, with rescuers double-checking households to ensure no one had been left behind.
No casualties have been reported to date, thanks to the quick response and round-the-clock efforts of the rescue teams.
"We probably slept only two to three hours in the last 48 hours. We didn't sleep until we finished checking this area," said Liu Xiaojun, vice station chief at the Special Service Station of the Xiangtan Municipal Fire Rescue Brigade.
Liu and his team helped evacuate around 800 residents in two days.
"Overall, it went smoothly. Thanks to the timely warning, the evacuation of the people was also relatively prompt. There were not too many people left for us to evacuate. Although the water flow was quite strong, and there are some significant obstacles, our rescue team is quite professional and handled the situation without any issues," said Liu.
By Monday afternoon, the first breach had been closed. Authorities are working to seal the other two dikes and ensure local livelihoods.
Floods force 4,000 to evacuate after dike breaches in Hunan
