A VACANT old house in Zhabei District collapsed after fierce downpours on the morning of June 20, which marked the beginning of this year's rainy season.

Around 9:00am that morning, the two-storey house crumpled to the ground with a sudden bang but caused no casualties. According to Shanghai Television Station, the wood-framed building was put up before liberation in 1949, and the house has been vacant for more than a decade.

Relief workers immediately arrived at the scene, and saved two elderly people in a neighbouring building.

Early in May, related departments issued written notices, urging residents to repair 67 dilapidated houses including the one that collapsed.

Lightening kills

Lightening claimed five lives in a thunderstorm in Chongming County on June 20.

A witness said she saw the lightening burst into a fireball and hit four farmers working at a local farm. At 3:30pm on the same day, a worker surnamed Liu from another farm also died when receiving a strong blow.

In the thunderstorm, other areas of the county were also damaged by the lightning but caused no casualties, with some equipment and computers destroyed. In the past year, three people were killed by lightning.

Water pipes explode

An underground pipe near four neighbourhoods in Hongkou District suddenly burst on June 22, and the ferocious current hit a hole with a diametre of more than 10 metres on the street, flooding more than 300 households. Relief workers and firefighters soon arrived to help drain the water. Firefighters saved four people trapped in a basement of a factory. Examination found that the broken pipe was a passage for tap water from water plants, and the accident resulted from a natural blowout.

(Star News)