Thousands flee China quake area over flood fears

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Keywords: China earthquake, Sichuan

Beichuan: Thousands of Chinese earthquake victims fled areas near the epicenter on Saturday, fearful of floods from rivers blocked by landslides rattled loose in this week's powerful temblor.

Soldiers carried older people out of Beichuan town - one of the areas hit hardest by the magnitude 7.9 quake on Monday - while survivors cradled babies on a road jammed with vehicles and people.

A policeman said rescue officials were worried that water from a choked river would inundate the town.

"The river was jammed up by a landslide, now that may burst. That is what we are worried about," the policeman said as he hurried by, not giving his name.

"I'm very scared. I heard that the water will be crashing down here," said Liang Xiao, one of the people fleeing. "If that happens, there will be over 10 yards of water over our heads."

The official Xinhua News Agency said earlier that a lake in Beichuan County "may burst its bank at any time," but did not give details on why the water was rising. Residents left homes for higher ground, but 46 seriously injured were still at risk, the agency said.

Farther north, a mountain sheared off by the quake cut the Qingzhu River and smothered three villages in a valley near Qingchuan town. No traces remained of the villages, swallowed up by a huge mound of earth behind which the cut-off river's waters were backing up.

Xinhua said more than 2,000 people were being evacuated near Qingchuan.

Rain began to fall in Qingchuan County on Saturday evening for the first time since the initial quake, the agency reported - increasing the risk of floods and more building collapses, and worsening living conditions for homeless survivors sheltered under tents and makeshift canopies.

The confirmed death toll rose on Saturday to 28,881, Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin said.

But more than 10,600 people remained buried in Sichuan province, Xinhua reported, and the government has previously said at least 50,000 people were believed killed in the disaster.

Survivors still were being found under destroyed buildings five days after the quake. A 52-year-old man buried in the ruins for 117 hours was pulled to safety in Beichuan, Xinhua reported. Two other survivors were later found alive 120 hours after the quake elsewhere in Sichuan, the agency said.