China Reports Over 140 Dead, Missing In Floods Since Last Month

Reporter Rosyn Park ㅣ 2020-07-13 15:54

A man in an inflatable boat paddles past submerged cars during a flood in Rongshui County in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The Yangtze River region has seen its second highest rainfall in more than a half-century so far this year as deadly flooding strikes much of China.

More than 140 people have died or are missing and around 28,000 homes have been damaged in the floods since last month.

The AP reported on Monday that according to Vice Minister of Emergency Management Zheng Guoguang, virtually all of mainland China has been affected, excluding vast far western areas such as Tibet and Xinjiang.

Zheng said the Yangtze, Asia's longest river, and parts of its watershed have seen the second highest rainfall since 1961 over the past six months.

He added that flood surges on 433 rivers have exceeded the warning level and 33 of them hit record highs.

Emergency workers have been shoring-up embankments and digging channels to release overflow.

Damage has been estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars, adding to pressure on China's economy, which has been deeply impacted by the global spread of COVID-19.

Flooding in some areas last week forced the rescheduling of portions of the crucial four-day national college entrance exams that had already been delayed for a month because of the pandemic.