Floods that have swept across China since late last week had
claimed 536 lives and left 137 missing by 4 PM yesterday, the
Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters
said.
Twenty-two provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have
been hit, causing economic losses of 20.4 billion yuan (US$2.5
billion).
More than 44.3 million people have been affected and more than
31 million hectares of crops damaged.
Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region and the provinces of Guangdong
and Fujian
have suffered the worst, according to the office.
In Guangxi, floods have damaged 91 reservoirs and 53.4
kilometers of dikes. In Wuzhou City, river water levels on the
Xijiang rose to 26.75 meters when the flood crest came at 12:00 AM
on Thursday, 9.45 meters above the warning line.
Wuzhou and some other cities in Guangxi have decided to postpone
senior high school entrance examinations as a result.
Rainstorms in Guangdong caused the roadbed of the
Longchuan-Huizhou section of the Beijing-Kowloon Railway to
collapse on Tuesday. Transportation has not yet been resumed and
repair work is still underway.
Torrential rains and ensuing floods in the northern part of
Fujian forced Xiamen Railway Station to suspend all services after
some tracks going through the city were rendered unusable.
A task force has been dispatched by the State Council to
floods-hit areas in Fujian to direct local rescue and relief
work.
Jia Zhibang, head of the task force and Vice Minister of Civil
Affairs, warned local officials to keep alert for possible mud and
rock flows and landslides.
(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2005)
