Torrential rains flood Jinggangshan – center of Chinese “red tourism”

NANCHANG – Torrential rains have lashed the mountainous city of Jinggangshan, known as the cradle of the Chinese Communist revolution, in east China’s Jiangxi Province, flooding the streets with knee-deep waters.

Rainfall over the previous 24 hours reached 160 mm at 8 a.m. Monday, the Flood Prevention Department in Jinggangshan City said.

Water is up to one meter deep on the streets in Ciping Town, the seat of the municipal government. But no casualties have been reported.

Firemen and police are rescuing stranded residents and preventing the floodwaters from further damaging the area.

Jinggangshan is the cradle of Chinese Communist revolution. It is where the late leader Mao Zedong and other leading members of the Communist Party of China established the first rural base for the revolution in 1927.

The city has become a major “red tourism” attraction in recent years. It was not immediately known if any tourist sites were flooded.