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Strong rains have become the primary cause for a lot of damages and economic losses across China as of late. Experts indicate that the agriculture, forestry, fishing, livestock, and shipping industries are all feeling the effects.
In total, 20.7 million people in 20 affected provinces have experienced a total of 35.3 billion RMB in economic losses. Torrential downpours and flooding have also caused over one million emergency evacuations, 44 thousand building collapses, and 108 deaths.
Ever since June 26, the Jianghu and Taihu Lake basin areas have been being pelted by a wide belt of heavy rain stretching over a total area of 210,000 sq. km. Over 50 cm of rain has fallen already.
According to forecasts, there will be more heavy rain to come for those areas. There’s also the likelihood of typhoons forming and landing along coastal areas which would trouble flood prevention efforts for the Taihu, Chunhe, and Huaihe basins.
An assembly of weather forecasters and agricultural experts seem to have attributed the heavy rains to El Nino, predicting that adverse conditions will last well into the fall.
More than 20 million people in 20 provinces have been affected by the floods. Photo: Xinhua
Floods and heavy rain have killed more than 100 people and inflicted 35 billion yuan (HK$44 billion) in losses across the country so far this year, according to a report by a state-owned newspaper.
And the downpours were forecast to continue across the country's south until Wednesday, with the China Meteorological Administration issuing a yellow alert for the region, indicating that up to 50mm could fall in a six-hour period, Economic Information Daily reported on Thursday.
Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guizhou and Guangxi provinces are also expecting heavy rain.
The report attributed the severe conditions to El Nino.
More than 20 million people in 20 provinces have been affected, with 108 dead and 21 missing. And more than one million people have been evacuated and roughly 44,000 houses have collapsed. Some of the worst-affected areas are in Hunan, Sichuan and Fujian.
Torrential rain started to sweep across the Yangtze River, Huai River and Tai Lake regions last Friday, with a 210,000 sq km area recording 50mm of falls since then. The Tai Lake area has received an average of 112mm of rain and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River 110mm.
"Some areas had so much rain that they were completely waterlogged, making it very difficult for disaster relief efforts," Wei Huazhen, director of flood prevention in Dahua county, Guangxi, was quoted as saying.
Yang Lin, a meteorologist with the Fujian Meteorological Bureau, said El Nino had led to extreme weather in the province, with widespread drought in spring and persistent torrential rain since May, flooding mountain areas and cities.
The drought conditions were expected to return in Fujian when the flood season was over.
The wet weather has pushed up vegetable prices in the past two months. Xinhua said that in its price survey of 21 types of vegetables, 16 were up to 15 per cent more expensive than the same time last year.
Chai Liping, secretary general of the China Vegetable Association, said vegetable prices would go up further because of a drop in supply. Floods in the country's south hit output and also pushed up transport costs, leading to higher prices in the north.
