The death toll from heavy rain and mountain torrents in
central-south China's Hunan Province rose to 96 as of Wednesday,
and thirty-eight people are still missing, said sources with the
provincial government.
Eight people were found killed in the new round of
rain-triggered floods that hit the cities of Yiyang, Shaoyang from
Sunday to Tuesday and five others were missing.
The first round of heavy rain caused torrential flooding in some
parts of Hunan from May 31 to June 1, killing 88 people and leaving
33 others missing, official statistics show.
Electric power supply, traffic and telecommunications have
completely shut down in the inundated regions. Rescue and
disaster-relief efforts are underway to minimize the damages and
fight future floods, local flood control departments said.
During the past week, floods and landslides have left more than
130 dead and affected 15 million across central and south China,
and the damage is still being tallied.
* In Guizhou, floods over the past weeks have claimed the lives
of 49, with direct economic loses of 340 million yuan (US$41
million), according to local officials.
* In Guangxi, at least one person was killed as heavy rains
pounded 23 counties, forcing more than 14,000 locals to be
evacuated. Parts of Guangxi's Nanning and Guilin were under 80
centimeters of water after 200 millimeters of rain fell on the
region.
US$9.6 million granted
Areas devastated by this year's natural disasters are to receive
about 80 million yuan (US$9.6 million) in emergency funding from
the central government.
Called "funds budgeted for catastrophic calamities," the money
will be used for emergency aid, rebuilding and recovery after
disasters such as flooding and drought, sources with the Ministry
of Finance confirmed yesterday.
According to the official website of the State Flood Control and
Drought Relief Headquarters, part of the money has already been
earmarked for south China provinces battered by this summer's first
floods as well as the drought-stricken Yunnan Province.
Severe weather ahead
"Following a week of downpours throughout south China, waters
swelled above the danger level in some local rivers," a source at
the flood and drought relief headquarters said.
By yesterday, waters in the Zishui and Xiangjiang rivers in
Hunan Province and the Beiliu River in the Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region had started receding.
Although the country's major water-swollen rivers were flowing
normally, the flood and drought relief headquarters urged
authorities to brace themselves for potential flash floods along
big rivers like the Yangtze.
The river caused havoc in east China during the summer of 1998
following torrential rains.
In the next three days, there will be more downpours in Hubei,
Hunan, Sichuan, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, weathermen
predicted.
Thundershowers are forecast for parts of north and northeast
China with possible hailstorms.
A heavy hailstorm, the second in a week, hit Beijing on Tuesday
night with hailstones as big as ping-pong balls pounding western
and southern parts of the capital.
In northeast China, provincial governments are on alert for
floods. Zhang Zuoji, governor of Heilongjiang Province, has told
officials to be well prepared for floods forecast for the
Songhuajiang River valley.
(China Daily/Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2005)