Southern areas reel as big wet continues
By Li Xinran |
May 18, 2010, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TORRENTIAL rain and flooding have killed 101 people in southern China and caused 8 billion yuan (US$1.17 billion) worth of economic losses.
China News Service reported yesterday that downpours lashed 10 provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, affecting more than 15 million people.
Heavy rain has been relentless in large parts of the Yangtze Delta and southern China since April 29.
Most areas in the two regions received 100 to 200 millimeters of rain, 50 percent higher than usual and in some cases double the average annual record.
Rainfall in north and central Guangdong Province as well as the southern area of Jiangxi Province even reached up to 300mm.
Landslides toppled homes and destroyed crops.
In central China's Hunan Province, a third round of downpours has hit some townships in the north and northwest, while more rain is expected there this week, the provincial weather bureau said yesterday.
In east China's Shandong Province, a new round of heavy rain was also forecast for today.
El Nino fallout
In Guangdong, three rainstorms pelted Guangzhou, the capital, bringing the highest weekly rainfall of up to 440mm in 25 years.
The fall equated to a quarter of the city's annual rain, said Lin Liangxun, Guangdong's chief weather forecaster.
"South China has already entered its flood season, a month earlier than in previous years," Sun Jun, of the National Meteorological Center, was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency. "The biggest floods are yet to come."
Affected areas also include the provinces of Sichuan, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and Zhejiang and the city of Chongqing.
Sun said the heavy rain was caused by an El Nino fallout, which caused hot, wet air from southern China to meet cooler air from northern China.
Rainstorms also ravaged the eastern province of Anhui on Sunday and yesterday, affecting 145,000 people and 8,340 hectares of crops and causing direct economic losses of 8.45 million yuan, Anhui's disaster relief office said.
In Guilin in Guangxi, heavy rain devastated homes and farmland. More than 30 houses collapsed and 1,100 hectares of farmland were inundated.
China News Service reported yesterday that downpours lashed 10 provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, affecting more than 15 million people.
Heavy rain has been relentless in large parts of the Yangtze Delta and southern China since April 29.
Most areas in the two regions received 100 to 200 millimeters of rain, 50 percent higher than usual and in some cases double the average annual record.
Rainfall in north and central Guangdong Province as well as the southern area of Jiangxi Province even reached up to 300mm.
Landslides toppled homes and destroyed crops.
In central China's Hunan Province, a third round of downpours has hit some townships in the north and northwest, while more rain is expected there this week, the provincial weather bureau said yesterday.
In east China's Shandong Province, a new round of heavy rain was also forecast for today.
El Nino fallout
In Guangdong, three rainstorms pelted Guangzhou, the capital, bringing the highest weekly rainfall of up to 440mm in 25 years.
The fall equated to a quarter of the city's annual rain, said Lin Liangxun, Guangdong's chief weather forecaster.
"South China has already entered its flood season, a month earlier than in previous years," Sun Jun, of the National Meteorological Center, was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency. "The biggest floods are yet to come."
Affected areas also include the provinces of Sichuan, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and Zhejiang and the city of Chongqing.
Sun said the heavy rain was caused by an El Nino fallout, which caused hot, wet air from southern China to meet cooler air from northern China.
Rainstorms also ravaged the eastern province of Anhui on Sunday and yesterday, affecting 145,000 people and 8,340 hectares of crops and causing direct economic losses of 8.45 million yuan, Anhui's disaster relief office said.
In Guilin in Guangxi, heavy rain devastated homes and farmland. More than 30 houses collapsed and 1,100 hectares of farmland were inundated.
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