Rains in China: Close to 5 lakh affected in Jiangxi province; houses, crops destroyed

Jiangxi [China], June 21 (ANI): With close to 5 lakh people in East China's Jiangxi affected by rain, the province on Monday upgraded its flood control emergency response to level II.

Jiangxi witnessed heavy rain and floods in 55 counties from Saturday to 3:00 p.m. Monday. The heavy rain that lashed in Jiangxi has damaged 43,300 hectares of crops.

A total of 548,000 people were affected due to the heavy rain in China's Jiangxi province last Tuesday, according to the provincial flood control headquarters. Although it stopped raining on Wednesday, local meteorological department had predicted further rainstorms in the province this week.

Direct economic losses from the floods touched 470 million yuan (about 70.4 million U.S. dollars), according to East China's Jiangxi Province, reported Xinhua.

The local MeT department stated that rain belt would move north to the Yangtze River basin on Wednesday, media reported.

East China's Jiangxi Province on Monday issued a red alert for floods after the local hydrological stations registered water in local rivers at warning levels.

The heavy rain brought the first floods this year in Changjiang River and Xiuhe River in the province, according to the provincial hydrological monitoring center.

The center estimated that the water level would continue to rise in the coming four days in Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake, due to the heavy rain and that a flood may form as the water may rise around 0.4 meters above the warning level.

According to the meteorological department, rainfall will continue until Tuesday, and heavy rain will occur in some parts of northern and central Jiangxi, posing risks of floods, mountain torrents, urban and rural waterlogging and geological disasters.

The province had lifted its level IV flood-control emergency response on June 7, as the heavy rainfall process had basically ended.

Authorities have called for close monitoring of weather changes and efficient flood control and drought relief efforts.

The extreme weather has caused direct economic losses of 2.65 billion yuan (about 400 million US dollars) after destroying farmland and houses. A total of around 83,000 people were evacuated during the period.

According to local authorities, the torrential rains and rain-induced floods since May 28 have wreaked havoc in 80 counties of the province. (ANI)

Source: WORLD