More misery forecast for flood-hit China as death toll tops 100*

BEIJING, July 10 (AFP) Jul 10, 2007

Further heavy rains are expected in flood-hit areas of China where more
than 100 people have died in recent downpours, state press said Tuesday,
citing meteorological authorities.

The confirmed death toll across seven provinces stood at 101 with
another 26 people missing and more than 800,000 evacuated, the China
Daily newspaper and other state media reported.

More than 295,000 homes have been destroyed by the flooding in Jiangsu,
Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, and in the large
municipality of Chongqing, the China Daily said, quoting a civil affairs
ministry spokesman.

More rains are expected in those areas, plus the provinces of Yunnan and
Guizhou, over the next three days.

About 2.13 million hectares (5.26 million acres) of farmland have been
affected, with losses estimated at 3.7 billion yuan (487 million
dollars), the ministry spokesman told the China Daily.

Total direct economic losses could reach 6.9 billion yuan. Altogether,
28 million people have been affected in some way, the spokesman said.

The situation could worsen, with expected thunderstorms and strong winds
raising the risk of mountain torrents, landslides and mudflows, China's
meteorological administration reported.

In the worst-hit Sichuan province in the southwest, the death toll has
climbed to 28 dead and 19 missing from a continuous eight-day downpour,
the China Daily said.

In Shaanxi province to the north, heavy rains over the weekend killed
five people and have caused havoc with transportation, power and water
supplies and telecommunications services, and led to cracks forming in
16 dams.

Meanwhile tropical storm Man-yi, which has formed in the western Pacific
and could hit the eastern seaboard soon, threatens to add to the misery,
the paper said.