The death toll in severe floods around China earlier this month has risen to more than 500, official sources said on Tuesday, as the country braced for further downpours.
In the worst-affected province of Shaanxi, north China, torrential rain from June 8 to 10 caused devastating floods which killed 152 people, the state China daily newspaper said. Another 300 missing were ”not expected to be found alive”, the acting governor of the province, Jia Zhibang, told the newspaper.
The toll was up sharply from the 266 thought to be missing late last week. China is bracing for a summer of potentially disastrous floods, with regions around the Yangtze River being warned on Monday that imminent heavy rain could cause further inundation.
In the southeastern province of Fujian, where the worst rains fell on June 11, the number of fatalities remained unclear.
The state Xinhua news agency said two had died but an official in Taining district said that eight were dead, with three missing and 100 injured in that region alone.
Damage to property in the district amounted to 200-million yuan ($24-million), the official added.
More than 500 millimetres of rain fell in Fujian near three tributaries of the Minjiang river — the rivers Jinxi, Shaxi and Futunxi — with the Jinxi surging to its highest level in 200 years, Xinhua reported.
In south China’s Guangxi Autonomous region, 21 districts were affected by floods, which killed three people and cost 1,56-billion yuan in damages, the China News Service said.
A railway line and a highway were blocked in the province and the movement of boats was interrupted on the river Lijiang, one of China’s premier tourist areas.
According to reports late last week, the floods were also known to have claimed 29 lives in the central province of Hubei, 26 in Chongqing municipality and 30 in Sichuan, both in southwest China.
The last official total for flood deaths of 205 was issued by the ministry of civil affairs in Beijing almost a week ago.
On Tuesday, a ministry representative said while a new total had been collated, it could not be issued. In China, the full effects of natural disasters are often hidden as they are politically sensitive.
Regions given fresh flood alerts on Monday included Guangxi and Fujian, as well as Hunan and Jiangxi to the centre and east of China.
According to the Central Meteorological Observatory, up to 50-millimetres of rain was expected in most regions south of the Yangtze, with as much as 180-millimetres forecast in certain areas.
Premier Zhu Rongji inspected central provinces along the Yangtze last week and urged officials to brace for flooding this summer that could be worse than in 1998, state media said.
In 1998, the Yangtze River was the scene of some of the worst floods in recent Chinese history, leaving more than 4 000 people dead.
The Yangtze River Anti-Flood Headquarters forecast last month that the region was likely to receive more rain during the coming season than in a normal year due to abnormal weather, including cyclones and strong tides, resulting from the El Nino phenomenon.
The rain is expected to be concentrated in June and July. – Sapa-AFP