China evacuates 50,000, N.Korea hit hard by border flooding

BEIJING, Aug 21, AFP Heavy rains sparked serious flooding along the China-North Korea border Saturday, with more than 50,000 Chinese evacuated and Pyongyang's state media warning of "devastating" consequences in the North.

Downpours swelled the Yalu river which forms the border between the neighbouring countries to untenable levels, sending floodwaters into homes on both sides of the frontier, state media in both nations said.

In the northeast Chinese city of Dandong, three people were missing and more than 50,000 others evacuated, officials told AFP. About 230 homes collapsed and some transport, power and communication links have been cut off.

While an official at Dandong's flood control headquarters insisted that the situation was "not serious" in the city of 2.4 million, the Korean Central News Agency said the city of Sinuiju across the border had been "severely affected".

Floodwaters had inundated all houses, public buildings and farmland in three sectors of Sinuiju - home to a North Korean military airbase - and nearby rural communities, KCNA reported, without saying how many people were affected.

Provincial and local officials joined military personnel in rescue efforts, the North's media said.

In China, some roads were submerged along the Yalu and houses in Dandong were flooded with water that was knee-deep after heavy rain which began early Friday, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing the city government.

Workers were building a sand-bag flood barrier along the part of the river where the barriers had been breached, the agency reported.

Officials cited by Xinhua said only riverside areas, not downtown Dandong, had been affected.