Over 100 killed, missing due to severe flooding in China

Heavy flooding across central and southern China has left some 112 people dead or missing in recent days as a typhoon is forecast to make landfall there in the coming days.

China’s Civil Affairs Ministry said some 16 million people have been affected by heavy rains that have submerged vast areas near China’s longest river, Yangtze, according to the Beijing News.

Some media reports have put the toll from the natural disaster at around 180.

The report added that the typhoon which is expected to land on Friday could cause “serious” flooding in the area near Taihu Lake, close to Shanghai, as water levels there are at their highest record since 1954.

The ministry also said 1.34 million hectares of cropland had been damaged and another 157,800 hectares had been destroyed by Monday morning, inflicting economic losses of 20.43 billion yuan.

Circulating images showed a sports stadium in the central province of Hubei turned into a “giant bathtub” by the rainfall.

On Tuesday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang paid a visit to Anhui, one of the hardest-hit provinces, to make sure rescue operations are going on smoothly.

More than a million people were forced to evacuate their homes and relocate, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

Southern China is often hit by flooding during the summer monsoon season, but the rainfall this year has been heavy and many areas have been swept by torrential rains this week.

The Chinese daily further said the downpour is expected to move north this week towards Huai River.

Last month, China’s Vice Premier Wang Yang warned of higher risk of floods in the Yangtze and Huai river basins this year due a strong El Nino effect.

More than 4,000 people were killed mostly around the Yangtze in 1998 in China’s worst floods of recent years which were linked to an El Nino effect.

The daily quoted a meteorologist as ruling out a similar toll this year as the rain patterns were more disparate.

In June, a storm with hurricane-force winds and the worst tornado in half a century hit the eastern province of Jiangsu, leaving at least 98 people dead.

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