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

Flooding in Sichuan province rises over feet of Leshan Giant Buddha for first time since 1949

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.