A river overflows in southern China, stranding people and turning streets into canals

A Chinese flag flies outside of the Secondary Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin northeastern China's Tianjin municipality, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

BEIJING — Rescue workers used rubber dinghies to evacuate people and deliver food and water Wednesday after floodwaters overwhelmed towns in southern China’s Guangdong province.

About 30,000 people have been evacuated in Huaiji County after days of heavy rain, state broadcaster CCTV said.

More than half of the county’s roads were submerged and power and internet outages were widespread.

The Suijiang River overflowed in an urban area, turning wide swaths of streets into canals. Aerial footage showed high-rise apartment buildings and leafy green trees sticking up from a sea of mud-colored water. In some parts, the water reached about halfway up the first floor and left only the tops of cars visible.

Huaiji County is near the border with the Guangxi region and about 140 kilometres (90 miles) northwest of Guangzhou, a major industrial and port city that is the provincial capital.

Tropical storm Wutip brought heavy rain to the region and was followed by monsoon rains earlier this week. Five people died in Guangxi in two landslides triggered by the tropical storm last weekend.

A rescue worker interviewed on a livestream by the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper said his team needed to evacuate seriously ill patients from a hospital. The team had delivered milk powder and water to a woman with a newborn baby and was sending supplies to dozens of children and elderly people who were at a school.

The Associated Press