Floods have claimed seven more lives in seven provinces,
bringing the death toll across the country to 101, a spokesman with
the Ministry of Civil Affairs said yesterday.
A further 26 people are missing as a result of torrential rain
that began lashing the Huaihe River valley, in the eastern area of
Sichuan Province and southern area of Shaanxi Province on June
28.
Some 28 million people have so far been affected and as of 4 pm
yesterday, nearly 800,000 people in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Hubei,
Sichuan, Chongqing and Shaanxi had been evacuated. More than
295,600 houses have been damaged.
Altogether, 2.13 million hectares of farmland have been
affected, with losses estimated at 3.7 billion yuan (US$487
million), while the total direct economic losses could reach 6.9
billion yuan, the spokesman said.
The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said yesterday
that heavy rains will continue to batter the south.
Downpours are expected to continue in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan,
Hubei, Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces and the city of Chongqing, the
CMA said.
These regions may also experience thunderstorms and strong
winds, which could trigger mountain torrents, landslides and
mudflows, the administration said.
In the worst-hit Sichuan Province, the death toll has climbed to
28 with 19 others missing following a continuous deluge since last
Monday.
The provincial disaster relief office said floods have affected
8.19 million people, toppled 25,300 houses, damaged 48,700 others
and affected 240,000 hectares of farmland.
Liu Jiang, an official with the office told China Daily the
disaster had caused losses of more than 3 billion yuan.
So far, 320,000 people have been evacuated, Vice-Governor Guo
Yongxiang, said.
In Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, floods caused by heavy
rain over the weekend killed five people and inflicted damage worth
an estimated 359 million yuan.
"The roads, power and water supplies, telecommunication and
broadcasting in some counties were down and dams at 16 reservoirs
had cracks," Dong Chunyuan, director of the anti-flood office in
Hanzhong, the worst hit area, said.
Nature reserves for pandas, ibises and other wild animals in
Hanzhong were well protected in the higher altitude areas of the
Qinling Mountains, Dong said.
Authorities in East China's Zhejiang Province have alerted
people in low-lying coastal areas of the approach of a tropical
storm that formed early yesterday in the western Pacific.
Tropical storm Man-Yi, is continuing to gain strength and moving
northwestward at a speed of 25 kph, the China Central
Meteorological Station.
As of Sunday, 364 lives had been lost and 24 provinces and 59
million people had been affected, it said.
(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2007)