China Flooding Update and Death Toll: More Than 100 People Reported Dead; Cause, Response and Affected Places
Death toll rises to 186, with another 45 missing, after torrential rain in China has brought flooding over the past few days.
The country has maintained a storm emergency alert as 10-50 cm of rain was recorded in seven provinces causing the Yangtze River basin to overflow. Water levels in 92 regions have exceeded warning lines. The flooding has resulted to tremendous damages including rail lines being washed away and city road networks being shut down.
Authorities reported that about 1.5 million people had evacuated and 33 million had been affected.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Approximately 56,000 buildings had collapsed, while in the southern provinces, 9000 houses were destroyed. Moreover, 3 million hectares of cropland flooded, resulting to the country's economic loss that reached up to 50.6 Billion yuan (US$7.6 billion).
Storms had moved across central and southern China, affecting transportation centres from Chongqing to Shanghai and from Nanning to Nanjing. Eight people died in Wuhan, Hubei province, when a factory had collapsed, trapping workers under a wall. 23 people also died in a landslide in southern Guizhou Province according to state media reports.
Hubei was mostly affected according to reports. A sports stadium has also turned into a 'giant bathtub' due to the heavy rain and floods. Water levels on the Jushi River, rose over 26 feet, flooding at least 23 villages. A section of railway track near Macheng was washed away on Saturday.
The Mingtang stadium in Ezhou was also flooded for the first time after it was built three decades ago. Several tourists spots in Jinzhai county in the middle of mudslides, landslides and road subsidence.
Other places taking a huge hit were Zhejiang, Anhui, and Hunan, To sum it all up, roughly 1,200 counties in 26 of the country's provinces and municipalities had been largely affected by the storm.
The government has been putting remedies over the situation. National authorities raised the national flood level alert to level three. Several provinces have also upgraded their own emergency alerts to level two.
"Our country's flood control work has entered a critical stage. For the next step, the state authorities will make plans based on the most adverse situation," the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters declares.
National and local governments have also started to become more prepared and alert on any flood possibility in Yangtze River and Han River.
Forecasters say the heavy rain will continue until Wednesday in Yangtze River, the Huai River area, and parts of western and southern China.
A typhoon approaching from the east is also expected to make a landfall next week.
