BEIJING
Flooding in China has claimed 377 lives since the beginning of 2014, while 94 other people remain missing, according to a State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters report released this week.
State news agency Xinhua reported that at least 54.6 million people have been affected by the floods, while 4.6 million hectares of crops and about 160,000 homes have been destroyed.
Heavy rains devastated 21 provinces across the country in August, affecting at least 5.9 million people – with the provinces of Fujian on the southeastern coast, Guizhou in the southwest and Zhejiang on the eastern coast suffering the most damage.
Guizhou, the worst-hit province, suffered direct economic losses of $292 million (1.79 billion yuan), with 379,000 people affected and 31,000 in urgent need of basic supplies, according to a statement from the civil affairs ministry released last month.
It said the total loss from rainstorms in the country’s south currently stands at nearly $380 million (2.28 billion yuan).
The summer has witnessed loss of life in a variety of flooding-related disasters, ranging from landslides to lightning strikes, and workers being trapped in mines.
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