Rains kill one, threaten safety

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-6-11  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

HEAVY rains in the past two days killed one person, damaged crops, triggered floods and threatened reservoir safety in southern part of China, officials said yesterday.

The rain has affected more than 2 million people and damaged more than 190,000 hectares of farmland in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the provinces of Jiangxi, Anhui and Hubei, forcing 30,000 people to evacuate, local officials said.

One person was crushed to death after a house collapsed in Guangxi, officials said.

Water levels in some mid-sized and large reservoirs have risen above the warning levels.

The Jiangxi government has updated the number of affected people from 410,000 to nearly 1.2 million. More than 70,000 troops and residents have been mobilized, evacuating 166,000 people and saving 1,174 others trapped by floods. Rain in Jiangxi caused an estimated loss of 476 million yuan (US$68 million).

Hubei experienced the worst rainstorms in five decades, causing estimated losses of 20 million yuan.