China floods: Millions of people affected, warning of 'extremely heavy' rainfall issued

China is bracing for more thunderstorms and heavy downpours as the weather forecast predicted destructive seasonal rains in a state broadcast. More than 120 people were dead and several went missing due to massive flooding across northern regions. Earlier on July 12, the flood alert was changed to the third-highest of the four levels for the cities of Shanghai, Chongqing, and more than a dozen other districts after rain destroyed nearly 17,000 homes and caused $5.9 billion economic losses.  

In a fresh series of warnings, the National Meteorological Center predicted that China’s Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, and Zhejiang provinces, including two northeastern provinces, Heilongjiang and Jilin could witness rainfall ranging from 4 to 9 inches. Further, in a social media post, the Ministry of Emergency Management declared that at least 36 million people were "affected" in some way or the other by the torrential rain and nearly 300,000 were evacuated along the shores of Qiantang river. Warnings were issued after 433 rivers overflowed in China, of which, at least 33 raised past the danger watermarks, as per Ye Jianchun, vice-minister of water resources in China.  

As many as 8,000 people were evacuated in the south in Jiangxi province after 54 houses collapsed in the storms witnessed in recent days. Landslides and other rain-related disasters occurred due to continuous downpour in the region. Further, as per state media reports, crop output was majorly impacted due to flooding in the northern region that led to billions of Yuan loss. Earlier, on July 12, China raised the flood response due to a turbulent water rise in Lake Poyang, China’s biggest freshwater lake situated in Poyang county of Jiangxi. As the water in the lake rose to dangerous levels of 22.52 meters (74 feet), crossing the record high level of 19.50 meters (64 feet), large swathes of land were submerged as authorities launched emergency evacuation response plans.

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Average rainfall highest since 1961

Last week, the Chinese government deployed military authorities to mitigate the damages as over 1500 soldiers from Eastern Theatre Command of People's Liberation Army were sent across Poyang county and other danger zones for rescue operations. In a report by a leading state daily, officials said that the government in China launched immediate disaster relief efforts as many rivers witnessed a dramatic rise above warning levels this past week alone. Along the Yangtze River, the average rainfall recorded this year was highest since 1961 as water levels surged by 51 percent.  

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(images Credit: AP)