Continuous heavy rain in the Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has caused losses of 440 million yuan (about US$53 million).
A local regional government spokesman disclosed the figure in Urumqi Friday at a press conference.
A rainfall of between 240 mm (9.456 inches) and 360 mm (14.184 inches), some 60 percent of the total annual rainfall under normal conditions, had fallen in Ili in the past 20 days.
Currently, some 561,800 people have been affected with 87,700 homes collapsed and 185,800 in need of repair.
Some 20,000 stables have collapsed, killing nearly 120,000 head of livestock.
Seeds of wheat and corn sown on about 16,230 hectares (40,104.33 acres) of farmland have rotted, and seeding has been delayed on another 55,000 hectares (135,905 acres).
To combat the floods, the local civil affairs department allocated three million yuan (about US$361,446) for a disaster-relief fund, offered 450 tents and found temporary shelters for over 70,000 victims.
(Xinhua News Agency May 10, 2002)
