Officials blamed for being absent in time of floods

FLOOD control officials in the city's Songjiang District were accused for not staying on duty during the flood season. As torrential rains dumped 100 millimeters of water in Songjiang on Friday and Saturday, many homes in the Yueyang area were flooded. But none of the area's flood control officials came to help them drain the floodwater, complained Zhu Xindi who was taking the high school entrance exam on Saturday and Sunday. The district flood control headquarters said they put up evacuees in nearby hotels or schools, but gave no explanation for the absence of its two officials in the area, according to Xinmin.cn. A source in the headquarters told the website that the two officials surnamed Shi and Xue were not in the city last week. Zhu said her family moved to a hotel themselves in order to prepare for Sunday's exam, having waited in vain for local authorities to make the arrangement for them.

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