Floods in China Kill 56

Ongoing torrential rain in the south of China has caused severe floods in several regions, killing at least 56 people over the past two days.

China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Tuesday that the heavy rains have triggered floods, landslides and hailstorms in eleven provinces in the south of the country, affecting more than 11 million people.

Authorities said that 56 people have been confirmed dead thus far, and 22 people are missing. These numbers are expected to rise as rain continues to fall.

The torrential rain has caused the Yangtze – Asia’s longest river – and dozens of its tributaries, to overflow, flooding several towns, destroying homes and causing power outages.

According to Chinese authorities, more than 38 000 homes have been damaged by the floods, and around 880 000 hectares of crops have been completely destroyed.

While it is the monsoon season in China, the rains over the past few weeks have been much heavier than previous years. Authorities said that the heavy rains started in mid-June and continue to fall.

In the city of Changsha, the capital of the province of Hunan, authorities have recorded more than half a metre of rain over the past week.

Evacuations have started in several towns and cities in the affected provinces and the Chinese government have said that they have disbursed more than US$103 million in emergency aid to the affected areas.

Hundreds of flights have also been cancelled at various airports in the affected areas, leaving thousands of travellers stranded.

While the Chinese National Meteorological Center has said that less rainfall is expected for the rest of the week, locals will have to brace themselves for more heavy rains in the south of the country come next week.

Image credit: Floods in China (2017) [online image] sourced on 5 July 2017 at http://www.climatesignals.org/headlines/events/china-floods-june-july-2016