Death toll reaches 105 after flooding, landslides in China

Death toll reaches 105 after flooding, landslides in China

2011-06-14 04:17:42 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEIJING (BNO NEWS) -- China's Ministry of Civil Affairs on Monday confirmed that the death toll as a result of floods and landslides in the central southern regions of the country has risen to 105 with more than 60 others missing, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Since June 3, torrential rains have caused floods and landslides in the southern provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Guizhou. The region had earlier suffered a prolonged drought until the flood season began.

According to the government's data, 39 people were killed and 21 went missing in Hunan; 29 dead and 10 remain missing in Hubei; 24 are dead and 32 missing in Guizhou; and 13 are dead in Jiangxi.

On Monday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and China's National Disaster Reduction Commission launched an emergency response plan as torrential rains will continue in central and southern China over the next days.

In addition, eleven provinces and seven cities in central and south China were ordered to ready its relief-supply reserve stations for the expected extreme weather. Temporary shelters, safety inspections and evacuations were initiated as well.

In Hunan, the levels of precipitation recorded in the past days surpassed those registered in the region for the last 300 years. The downpours that struck 11 cities and prefectures in Hunan have affected around 3.61 million people.

The damages in Hunan have caused economic losses estimated at 2.22 billion Yuan (about 340 million U.S. dollars). The heavy rains toppled 17,300 rural houses and forced the evacuation of 149,000 people across the province.

In Wangmo County, located in Qianxinan Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou, 122.5 millimeters of rain fell in just one hour last Friday. This was the highest amount recorded in the area in 200 years.

In consequence, 45,000 residents were evacuated from the area while 5,500 hectares of cropland were damaged by the floods. Several roads and bridges were destroyed as well as at least 100 homes. The country's weather bureau has forecast further rainfall for the coming days.

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