South China Floods Toll Rises to 199

The heavy rains and floods ravaging 10 southern Chinese provinces had killed 199 and left 123 missing as of Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

More than 29 million people in the provinces--Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan and Guizhou--had been affected by the inclement weather, with 2.37 million evacuated, a ministry statement said.

More than 1.6 million hectares of farmland have been flooded, with 12.5 percent of the crops completely destroyed.

About 195,000 homes have collapsed and 568,000 others have been damaged.

Total economic losses are estimated at 42.12 billion yuan ($6.17 billion).

The ministry Tuesday sent an extra 5,000 tents and 20,000 cotton-padded quilts to Fujian, 3,000 tents to Guangdong and 10,000 tents to Jiangxi.

The ministry had already transported 3,500 emergency tents to the areas.

A new round of heavy rains is expected to pelt most parts of south China from Wednesday to Saturday, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) forecast Tuesday.

Many regions in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, as well as in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, will be hit by rainstorms and torrential rains during the period.

Minister for Water Resources Chen Lei Tuesday ordered local authorities to enhance monitoring of potential safety threats in facilities like dams, reservoirs and hydropower stations.

The ministries of finance and civil affairs on Tuesday allocated 253 million yuan ($37.2 million) to support the transfer and relocation of the people affected in Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou provinces.

The People's Liberation Amry (PLA) and militia in the affected areas have joined the relief missions.

Some 8,000 soldiers and militiamen in Jiangxi Province were dispatched to affected areas and have helped move more than 25,000 people to safety.

In Fujian Province, about 4,000 soldiers and militiamen have been deployed to the relief work.

Three groups of about 930 professional flood-defense soldiers from the Nanjing Military Command were flown into Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi Province.

They are on their way to Fuzhou City, Jiangxi, where the Fuhe River burst its banks late Monday.

The dike at the Changkai section of the Fuhe River burst at 6:30 p.m. and threatened the safety of about 80,000 people in Fuzhou. The opening in the dike expanded to 400 meters at around 7 a.m. Tuesday.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2010)