A rescue team from China Railway No. 17 Bureau Group Construction Engineering Co., Ltd work at a railway bridge damaged by flood in Jinzhong, Shanxi Province on October 7, 2021. Photo: CFP

More than 20,000 residents in North China's Shanxi Province have been relocated after heavy rain hit the province during the National Day holidays, the local authorities told media.

The heavy downpour started in Shanxi on Saturday and between Sunday and Thursday, precipitation in many places in the province exceeded 100 millimeters, reaching a historic high. In Jinzhong and Linfen, the precipitation even exceeded 200 millimeters.

The rain stopped on Thursday but a new round of rainfall is expected on Friday and Saturday, according to the local meteorological department. 

The rain has flooded villages causing the displacement and relocation of 8,000 residents in Yuncheng city and another 15,000 in Qingxu county in Taiyuan.   

It also destroyed the supports under a railway crossing over the Changyuan River in Qixian county. A video published on Wednesday went viral on social media platforms showing the railway hanging in the air without abutments. Maintenance personnel started to make urgent repairs on the railway since Thursday morning.  

Days of heavy downpours have also caused floods and landslides that have resulted in four dead and several injured in Linfen city. 

Not only Shanxi, many places across the country also experienced heavy rainfall during the holidays. Seven working groups were sent by the Ministry of Water Resources to the provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong to provide aid on flood prevention and control efforts, Xinhua News Agency reported.  

The ministry announced on Wednesday that the Yellow River, China's second longest river, has registered its third flood of this season caused by continuous rainfall, Xinhua reported.

After recent heavy rains, the amount of water flowing per second at the Tongguan hydrologic station, in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, increased to 5,090 cubic meters as of Tuesday evening, authorities said.

The ministry has maintained a level-three emergency response, the second-lowest level, and has asked local flood prevention authorities along the middle and lower reaches of the river to enhance their patrols on flood control projects.