Since the coming of summer, China has been suffering floods, rainstorms, winds and hails. Disasters are various, emergent and damaging large areas. Till now, almost all the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have been affected by meteorological disasters, Zhang Guocai, head of the division of forecast and disaster relief under China Meteorological Administration told People's Daily on July 21.

Zhang said, although there is no flood rampant in the whole river valleys, partial rainstorms are frequent, strong and leading to mountain torrents, landslides and mud slides, which incur casualties and economic losses to some regions seriously hit.

Rough statistics are, till July 20, floods affected more than 30 million people in Henan, Hunan, Hubei, Guangxi, Shaanxi provinces and Beijing municipality, and crops of 2.4 million acres, leading to immediate losses close to nine billion yuan. Plus, in June and July, there were a lot of collective casualties caused by severe convections weathers such as thunders, rainstorms, winds and hails.

Comprehensive analyses on information sent by meteorological satellites' monitoring drought on the first ten days of July and that on drought and flood on July 20 tell that now drought, much eased than in June, does not affect much of the country. Most areas have no drought except for dotted drought in northeastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the east of the northwest and coastal areas in the south and east.

By People's Daily Online