At least nine people died in a flash flood in northern China, state media reported yesterday, with three others still missing, as the East Asian monsoon continues to unleash atmospheric chaos across the world’s second-largest economy.
The banks of a river running through the grasslands of the Inner Mongolia region burst at about 10pm on Saturday, the report said, washing away 13 people camping on the outskirts of the city of Bayannur, a major agricultural hub.
A search and rescue operation involving more than 700 people is under way, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said. One person has been rescued.
Photo: AFP
China has experienced weeks of extreme weather since last month, battered by heavier-than-usual downpours with the monsoon stalling over its north and south.
Weather experts link the shifting pattern to climate change, testing officials as flash floods displace thousands and threaten billions of dollars in economic losses.
Bayannur is an important national grain and oil production base, as well as a sheep breeding and processing center.
At the other end of the country, a three-and-a-half-month fishing suspension in the southern province of Hainan ended on Saturday, state media reported, after agricultural affairs officials ordered ships to shelter in port owing to persistent, heavy rain.
In the southwestern province of Sichuan, severe weather on Friday killed two people and injured three others at a beer festival in the city of Mianzhu, after a truss fell on them, a local police report said on Saturday.
The deluge in Inner Mongolia follows a deadly downpour in Beijing — just under 1,000km away — late last month, which killed at least 44 people and forced the evacuation of more than 70,000 residents.
The Chinese government last week announced 430 million yuan (US$59.9 million) in fresh funding for disaster relief, taking the total allocated since April to at least 5.8 billion yuan.
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