More rain, flooding affects 22 provinces

Severe rainfall across China has affected 6.75 million people and left 83 dead or missing, China’s State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said yesterday.

Twenty-two provinces have been hit by severe rainstorms and flooding, with the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi and Fujian and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region the worst affected, said Ye Jianchun, secretary-general of the headquarters.

China’s meteorological authority continued a blue alert for heavy rain today. Rainstorms are expected to continue to hit parts of Guizhou, Chongqing, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Fujian, Taiwan and Gansu.

Torrential rains have caused havoc in southern China, killing 16 people in the region, local authorities said.

In the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, weeklong downpours have triggered floods in six cities and 32 counties, killing nine and affecting over 360,000 people.

The floods have toppled or damaged more than 1,300 houses.

In neighboring Guangdong Province, seven people have been killed and one is missing.

More than 2 million residents have been affected by torrential rain-triggered floods in eastern China’s Jiangxi Province, with 150,000 relocated.

Starting on Thursday, heavy rain has led to nine cities in the province being inundated by floodwaters, said the Jiangxi provincial emergency management bureau. Direct economic losses were estimated at 3.73 billion yuan (US$540 million).

Emergency response teams have been dispatched and relief supplies have been distributed, including folding beds, cotton quilts as well as bamboo mats.

The provincial weather departments has predicted that multiple rounds of torrential downpours would continue to hit Jiangxi until early July.