11 killed in China rainstorms
BY XINHUA
Continuous rainstorms have swept several provinces in China this week, killing at least 11 people and affecting over one million.
Six people have died from lightning strikes in east China’s Jiangxi Province since Friday, the provincial civil affairs department said on Wednesday.
So far, about 338,000 people from 31 counties in Jiangxi have been affected and 1,610 relocated. The storms damaged 227,000 hectares of crops and toppled 166 homes, resulting in direct economic losses of 186 million yuan (29.8 million U.S. dollars).
Neighboring Hunan Province has also been ravaged by heavy rains since early Monday morning. Five people were killed and 14 are missing in landslides in Anhua County.
The tourist destination of Fenghuang in Hunan has been flooded and more than 40 historical sites and ancient buildings in the town have been inundated, according to the county’s cultural relics department.
Rainstorms also wreaked havoc in the southwestern provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan and the neighboring south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, disrupting traffic and affecting over one million locals.
The Guizhou Provincial Meteorological Station issued a red alert for rain on Wednesday. The provincial civil affairs department has a relief fund of about 8.6 million yuan to help in allocating food and relief goods such as tents and quilts.
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, persistent downpours had caused ten trains departing from Guiyang Train Station to be suspended and several others to be delayed. About 4,000 passengers have been affected at Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport, with 34 flights delayed as a result of the storms.
Traffic on some major highways and expressways in the province has been disrupted as floods damaged more than ten sections of the roads.
Floods have damaged several railways in Yunnan and Guangxi, with over a dozen trains suspended in each region on Wednesday, according to local railway bureau.