At least 10 people were also reported dead and 29 people missing in a flash flood in Hanyuan county, Sichuan province on Saturday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
China’s peak rainy season runs from mid-July to mid-August and this year conditions have been severe, with frequent flood alerts and warning upgrades in many regions.
On Sunday, the Ministry of Emergency Management said lessons must be drawn from the most recent collapse.
“We should resolutely prevent the disasters that could lead to mass death and casualties,” it said.
The ministry told local authorities to closely monitor major infrastructure such as highways and railways, key areas such as water-related construction projects, and high-risk locations such as bridges, urban underground spaces and tunnels.
Better monitoring equipment should also be used for early detection and reporting of risk factors, it said.
Risk inspections of infrastructure, particularly bridges, were already under way in various provinces on Saturday, including in Shaanxi and Hubei provinces.
“We should adopt worst-case scenario thinking to deal with extreme weather and overcome any decline in alertness,” the Shaanxi provincial government said, urging officials not to take risks or be complacent.
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Road collapses, forming massive sinkhole at construction site in China
Road collapses, forming massive sinkhole at construction site in China
The Sichuan transport department requested “full coverage and thorough” inspections of disaster-prone areas and infrastructure after Saturday’s flash flood severed communication lines, roads and bridges.
In Hebei, transport authorities also ordered intelligent monitoring technologies, such as ground-penetrating radar and drones, to be deployed to monitor infrastructure in real time.
The Danning highway is a provincial road connecting three cities, and is part of national road network planning. The highway construction project is led by the Shangluo government using a public-private partnership model for construction.
The collapse occurred on the middle section of the highway – from Shanyang county to Zhashui county – which officially opened for operation in December 2018.
