Floods across southern China take heavy toll
Floods across southern China take heavy toll
Sunday, 20 June 2010 08:26
An estimated 68,000 houses have been damaged in the flooding Torrential rain and landslides in southern China have killed 132 people, with more heavy rain forecast.
A further 86 people are missing and 800,000 residents have been evacuated.
There have also been power cuts, collapsed reservoirs and widespread damage to roads. Millions are without drinking water supplies.
Dozens of rivers have passed safety levels, including the Pearl River in Guangdong province.
China's rainy season, which began in May, follows the worst drought in a century in the south-west.
'Rain intensity increased'The National Meteorological Centre warned on Sunday of more rainstorms to come.
"The scope and intensity of the rain have increased," it said in a statement on its website.
"In parts of Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Henan, Guangxi and other areas of the south, the rainfall will be 100-180 millimetres. In other parts, the rainfall will be more than 200 millimetres."
A total of 68,000 houses have been damaged and more than 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of crops have been affected, the reports said.
State TV broadcast images of soldiers leading rescues from roof tops, submerged fields, overturned cars people wading through waist-high water as they tried to cross a flooded bridge.
Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10359596.stm
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