Heavy rains in southern and eastern China have left at least 62 people dead or missing, with authorities saying yesterday that more than 1 million residents had been evacuated.
Rains were expected to continue to pound southern China in the coming days, with water levels in rivers threatening towns in Jiangxi, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces, the state meteorological bureau said.
The civil affairs ministry said that at least 55 people had been killed and seven were missing following torrential rains in nine provinces over the last week, the China News Service said.
It said that more than 1.27 million people had been evacuated in the hardest hit regions, with large swathes of farm land submerged and economic losses already amounting to over US$1.45 billion, it said.
More than 17.8 million people had been affected by flooding brought on by the torrential rains, while over 141,000 homes had been wrecked or damaged, it said.
The rains have washed out roads throughout the nine provinces, Xinhua news agency said.
Guangdong was the worst affected. Rains there left at least 28 people dead or missing, with flooding in the Pearl River delta the worst in decades, it said.
The Guangdong government issued an emergency flood alert throughout the province as levels in tributaries to the Pearl river hit or were surpassing warning levels, the report said.
The government dispatched 10 special boats to Changle city, one of the worst hit in Guangdong, where up to 100,000 people were being evacuated, it said.
In parts of Guangdong, up to 415mm of rain fell in a 24-hour period from Friday to Saturday, the report said.
Food prices were also rising because of the flooding, with vegetable prices in some Guangdong cities up between 30 percent and 70 percent on Saturday, Xinhua said.
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