94 killed in wild floods
9/7/2007 16:40
Floods have left 94 people dead and 25 others missing in seven provinces
in China, a spokesman with the Ministry of Civil Affairs said
yesterday.
About 16.67 million people have been affected and 555,100
people in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces and
Chongqing City were evacuated by 4pm yesterday.
More than 49,000 houses
collapsed and another 240,100 were damaged as a result of torrential rain that
began to lash the Huaihe River valley, the eastern area of Sichuan Province and
southern area of Shaanxi Province on June 28.
About 1.23 million hectares
of farmland have been affected, with agricultural losses estimated at 1.95
billion yuan (US$256,545 million).
Total direct economic losses could
reach 3.83 billion yuan, according to the spokesman.
Heavy rain also
triggered mountain torrents, landslides and mudflows.
The Sanhe sluice
gate at Hongze Lake in Jiangsu Province has been fully opened to discharge
floodwater into the Yangtze River.
Weather forecasters said rains will
continue in the Huaihe River until at least today.
The flood-prone Huaihe
River cuts across China between the Yellow and Yangtze rivers before entering
the Yangtze via Hongze Lake.
In a bizarre twist of fate, drought in the
north of the country has left at least 7.4 million people short of drinking
water.
Xinhua
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