While storms have been battering southern China for months, the assault on the country's north has just begun.
Beijing lifted its heavy rain alert from yellow to orange on Thursday - the second highest of China's four-tier warning system.
Heavy rain is expected to continue overnight, with some areas estimated to receive as much as over a hundred millimeters of rain. And the orange alert on the meteorological risk of geological hazards has remained since it was released on Wednesday.
Torrential rain in Hebei Province has killed 14 people and 72 are missing. The provincial water resources department says the heavy rain has caused disasters in 19 counties. The provincial capital Shijiazhuang saw up to 630 millimeters on Wednesday.
In Henan Province, direct economic losses reached 300 million yuan (45 million US dollars) as more than 130 houses were destroyed and over 6,000 hectares of crops were damaged in the rain.
Other northern municipalities and provinces including Tianjin, Shandong, and Liaoning have also issued varying levels of alerts.
Torrential rains are forecast to now move on to northeast China tomorrow, causing heavy downpours in Liaoning, north Hebei and south Jilin.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged all-out efforts to control and fight floods, stressing that people's safety should be the top priority.
Xi also highlighted close monitoring of weather changes and rainfall, better analysis of the flood situation, prompt issuance of early warnings, and the timely launch of emergency response measures.
No comments:
Post a Comment