China floods: 100,000 evacuated as waters reach Giant Buddha statue

Floods on the upper reaches of the Yangtze river in south-west China have forced authorities to evacuate more than 100,000 people and threatened a 1,200-year-old world heritage site. Staff, police and volunteers used sandbags to try to protect the 71-metre (233ft) Leshan Giant Buddha, a Unesco world heritage site in the south-west Sichuan province, as muddy flood water rose over its toes for the first time since 1949, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

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