Continuous heavy rain over the past four days has affected 3.12 million residents and caused huge losses in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south China, local officials said Wednesday.
About 20,000 houses collapsed, two medium-sized and 82 small reservoirs were damaged, and 175,000 ha of farmland was flooded. Torrential rains affected 37 counties across the region, said local officials.
A total of 7,500 soldiers, armed policemen and paramilitary troops have been called in to help with rescue work.
Rains mainly poured down in Liuzhou, Guilin and Dongxing cities.
(People?s Daily July 4, 2002)
