Up until July 26th, 29 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have been struck by flood disasters of different sizes, leaving 1,076 people dead and 359 missing and causing a direct economic loss of 74.3 billion yuan, E Jingping, sectary-general of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters of China said on July 27th. In order of severity, the most-hit areas are Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Gaungxi, Jiangxi, Guizhou and Zhejiang.

According to Mr. E, this year's flood disasters in China displayed four characteristics. First, the losses caused by the floods are greater this year than the average level in previous years but fewer people are killed. Second, torrential flood disasters cause greater losses than ever before. For example, 992 out of the 1,076 deaths, viz. more than 92% of the nationwide disaster toll resulted from torrential flood, landslide and debris flow. Third, some regions such as Fujian, Hunan and Guangdong were hit by flood disasters more than once, resulting in greater direct economic losses than ever. Fourth, various disasters occur to some places at the same time. Continuous heavy rains caused some rivers and large reservoirs to overflow, resulting in floods. For instance, the tropical storm Bilis brought fierce wind, heavy rains and floods to many cities in Guangdong and Guangxi at the same time and made these places drowned.

By People's Daily Online