Floods Kill 16, Affect Millions in China, With More Rain to Come

Torrential rains in central and southern China have killed at least sixteen people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others, with 12 reported as missing. Authorities are bracing themselves for at least another four days of downpours, state media reported Tuesday.

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Severe rain, which started falling Thursday, has affected more than 189,000 hectares of crops and destroyed almost 1,400 houses in several Chinese provinces by Monday. Almost 2 million people have been evacuated and the damages have led to direct economic losses amounting to 3.73 billion yuan (US$540 million).

In the autonomous region of Guangxi in the southwest, 20,000 households had their power cut and roads, bridges and other infrastructure severely damaged, the China Daily said. Together with numbers from the province of Guangdong up to 470,000 have been displaced from their homes with 17,000 of them having to be relocated to new areas.

In eastern Jiangxi, the situation is more severe with two million people living in shelters, 375 collapsed houses, and 152,800 hectares of crops completely flooded.

Rainfall in Jiangxi reached as much as 688 millimeters (27 inches), according to a notice by China's meteorological administration. It said rain in parts of Jiangxi and Hunan had hit record highs for June.

The government has declared a state of emergency and is distributing aid among evacuees.

The emergency management administration said rainstorms were expected to continue and spread to Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Taiwan by Thursday. It also warned authorities to be on their guard against severe thunderstorms and the possibility of small rivers bursting their banks in coming days.