Fierce Storms kill 16 in China
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Fierce Storms kill 16 in China*
From correspondents in Beijing
July 30, 2007 04:46am
Article from: Reuters
FIERCE storms and hail have killed at least 16 people across China this
weekend, adding to the hundreds of deaths this summer in floods,
landslides and other natural disasters, according to state media.
Ten deaths occurred in central Hubei province, where rain and hail have
added to swollen waters along the Yangtze River, the Xinhua news agency
reported.
In the north-west province of Shaanxi, five died in rainstorms that
toppled 277 houses around Shangluo, a small city, Xinhua reported overnight.
A hail storm in the eastern province of Anhui killed one person and
injured three, Xinhua said.
Weeks of rain along the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze, China's
biggest river, have threatened Wuhan with dangerously high waters, state
media said.
More than 500 people have already died nationwide in floods and
landslides this summer, underscoring the vulnerability of the huge rural
population to natural disasters.
Authorities in Hubei have mobilised tens of thousands of people to
monitor the embankments of the swollen Han River, a major tributary of
the Yangtze.
Along the Huai River in eastern China, flood waters remain dangerously
high but have begun to retreat.
But forecasters say torrential rain is likely to hit parts of Sichuan
and Shaanxi provinces in the west in the coming days.
"There is the strong possibility of landslides, mudslides and other
geological disasters," the national weather authority said, according to
Xinhua.
Other parts of China are suffering meteorological misery of different kinds.
The north-east is suffering drought and the coastal east, including
Shanghai, is forecast to endure more days of sweltering heat reaching up
to 40 degrees Celsius.