Floods, landslides kill 35 in southwest China
Pastor Dale Morgan
Floods, landslides kill 35 in southwest China*
Reuters
Monday, June 23, 2008; 10:36 AM
BEIJING (Reuters) - Floods, landslides and hail in the southwestern
Chinese province of Yunnan have killed 35 people, state media said on
Monday.
The storms have affected around 1.9 million people and caused losses of
some 575 million yuan ($83.70 million) in the province, the official
Xinhua news agency said, though it did not specify a timeframe.
In the eastern province of Anhui, torrential rain and floods over the
weekend affected about 541,000 people, it added.
Rain and floods, concentrated in China's heavily industrialized south,
have killed at least 176 people already this year, as authorities
struggle to shelter millions made homeless by the 7.9 magnitude quake
that struck the southwestern province of Sichuan on May 12.
"Some of these regions were hit by the heaviest rain in more than a
century," Xinhua said.
Typhoon Fengshen, which weakened to a tropical storm over the South
China Sea, pounded the Philippines at the weekend with gusts of up to
195 kph (120 mph), and is expected to bring more rain to southern and
eastern China.
At least 155 people were killed, largely by drowning, in a torrent of
floods in the south and centre of the archipelago, and nearly 800 are
missing from a capsized ferry.
($1=6.870 Yuan)
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by David Fox)