Floods force over 400 students to evacuate ahead of major exam in south China

NANNING, June 24 (Xinhua) -- More than 400 ninth-grade students and 30 teachers were evacuated Monday, one day before the senior high school entrance examination, as days of torrential rains triggered flooding at an exam venue in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south China.

Tian'e County Ethnic High School, located in a low-lying area of Tian'e County, saw serious flooding starting Sunday, forcing an initial evacuation to second-floor dormitories and the classroom building at 4 a.m. Monday.

The students and teachers were then transferred to another school in the county as a backup examination venue later on Monday morning amid rainfall. According to the weather forecast, more rains are expected in the next three days.

The senior high school entrance examination is scheduled from Tuesday to Thursday, when more than 2,200 students in the county registered for the examination.

As the rain season arrives, the China Meteorological Administration renewed an orange alert for rainstorms and a red alert for mountain floods last Friday, forecasting continuous downpours in parts of China, including Guangxi, by Monday.

China has a four-tier, color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue. ■