Over 80,000 people flee floods in south-west China

Country experiencing summer of extreme weather, with heatwaves and rainstorms

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SHANGHAI - Flooding in China's south-west has driven more than 80,000 people from their homes, state media said on June 25, as a collapsed bridge forced the dramatic rescue of a truck driver left dangling over the edge.

China is enduring a summer of extreme weather, with heatwaves scorching wide swathes of the country while rainstorms pummel other regions.

Climate change, which scientists say is exacerbated by greenhouse gas emissions, is making extreme weather phenomena more frequent and more intense.

Around 80,900 people had been evacuated by the afternoon of June 24 in the south-western province of Guizhou, state news agency Xinhua reported.