Northern China Bakes As Southern China Is Swamped By Floods

SINO DAILY

A Chinese man walks across a damaged bridge after a flash flood swept through a village in the suburbs of Fuzhou, southeastern China's Fujian province 20 June 2005. Torrential rains and floods have left hundreds of people dead and countless homeless around China since the rainy season started last month. AFP photo.

Beijing (AFP) Jun 21, 2005
Scorching temperatures Tuesday baked northern China while the death toll from flooding in the rain-soaked south continued to rise as rivers swelled and threatened to break their banks, state media said.

Seven people were dead and one missing in severe rainstorms in the Guangxi autonomous region in southern China, while another three died in rains pounding Fujian province in the southeast, Xinhua news agency reported.

Both places were covered by a rain belt hovering over much of south China with up to 203 millimeters (eight inches) of rain falling over the last three days in the worst-hit areas, it said.

The level of the Mingjiang river in Guangxi was up to three metersfeet) over the warning level, while other major rivers in southern provinces were approaching alert levels.

Torrential rains were forecast to continue through Friday in the Guangxi and Guizhou regions and were expected to stretch eastwards into Jiangxi, Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, the China News Service said.

At least 255 people have been reported dead due to heavy rains and flooding in parts of China since May.

Meanwhile, the death toll from a flash flood in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province on June 10 rose to 117, including 105 schoolchildren, as searchers found the remains of another eight people, Xinhua said.

Thousands of people perish every year from floods, landslides and mudflows in China, with millions left homeless. Officials have said this year's floods could be worse than usual.

A heatwave meanwhile scorched the northern half of the country, sending the mercury soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many places.

In Beijing temperatures reached 38 degrees while areas of Hebei, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces sweltered in temperatures of 42 degrees, Xinhua said.

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