Chinese coast braces for flooding as storms move east
- Heavy rain has already caused US$4bn of damage and left 78 people dead or missing in the southwest of the country
- Central and eastern regions, many of which lie along the Yangtze and are historically prone to flooding, are now set to bear the brunt
Torrential rain is set to hit China’s eastern coastal regions this week after overwhelming large parts of the southwest, inundating villages and tourist spots and displacing more than 700,000 people, state weather forecasters said on Monday.
Nearly 14 million people in 26 different provinces had been affected by storms and floods by Friday, with 744,000 evacuated, China Daily reported, citing the Ministry for Emergency Management.
The ministry said 78 people have been confirmed dead or missing, with direct economic losses at 27.8 billion yuan (US$4 billion).
Much of the damage has been seen in provinces including Guangxi and Sichuan, while the municipality of Chongqing, on the upper reaches of the Yangtze, last week experienced its worst floods since 1940.
But central and eastern regions are set to bear the brunt this week, with some facing 30mm to 50mm (1.2 to 1.9 inches) of rain per hour by Wednesday, the state meteorological bureau said.
Regions along the banks of the Yangtze and its tributaries are traditionally vulnerable to flooding in China’s summer, with the impact of heavy rainfall worsened by deforestation, dwindling flood plains and the diversion of natural river systems for hydropower and irrigation.
