Society

Crews recover cars trapped in mudslide

By Huang Zhiling (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-07-05 07:27

CHENGDU - Thousands of vehicles trapped by rain-triggered mudslides on a vital expressway were pulled free on Monday.

However, as fresh mudslides spilled onto the highway in the early hours of Monday, officials said they do not know when traffic will return to normal.

Yang Guangming, a worker overseeing National Highway 213, said he saw a "waterfall" of mud and rocks sweeping down from between two mountains at about 9 am on Sunday, burying half the course of the Minjiang River.

In less than 10 minutes, he said debris had blocked the river and floodwaters were lashing the roadbed and eroding the mud and rock beneath. Four hours later, a transformer substation and three high iron towers fell into the river.

More than 100 meters of the highway was destroyed, leaving about 7,000 vehicles stranded in the mud. No casualties were reported, according to a traffic police report.

By noon on Monday, all the stranded vehicles had been moved, said Huang Jinping, who is leading the cleanup for Sichuan Road and Bridge Group.

Drivers heading for Chengdu, the capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, were diverted through Maoxian and Beichuan counties, and Mianyang and Deyang cities.

The area has been lashed with rain since last week. A rainstorm disrupted the Wenchuan section of the highway on Friday, blocking it with piles of sand and rocks. It was reopened on Saturday.

National Highway 213 links Sichuan to neighboring Yunnan and Gansu provinces. Following the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, the road acted as a crucial channel for rescuers bringing aid and supplies to the town of Yingxiu, the epicenter of the tremor, which left 87,000 people dead or missing.