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Rainstorms and ensuing floods in two southern Chinese provinces have left at least 29 dead over the last several days, affecting hundreds of thousands of others, according to local government sources.

 

In the past three days, seven residents of Meizhou City in Guangdong were killed in landslides with 270,000 others affected in the spate, the largest in a decade, the provincial water conservancy bureau said Saturday.

 

More than 50,000 people were evacuated from flood-hit areas.

 

Some 784 houses collapsed, nearly 15,000 hectares of cropland and various infrastructural facilities including dikes and roads were damaged, incurring 270 million yuan (US$33.75 million) in economic losses.

 

Five heavy rainstorms, with some 20 percent more of rainfall against the same period last year, will continue to afflict the province in June, the bureau has warned.

 

The provincial meteorological bureau issued an alarm Saturday on forthcoming rainstorms and floods, warning regions holding the seasonal dragon-boat races to ensure people's safety.

 

In Guangdong's neighboring province of Fujian, continuous heavy rains since May 30 have claimed lives of 22 people and destroyed 19,000 homes, forcing the evacuation of more than 50,000 people.

 

Floods have always tortured southern China at this time of the year, causing casualties and enormous damages despite the government's efforts in flood mitigation.

 

A senior official with the state flood-control authority has said that 59 had been killed and 11 people remained missing in the nationwide floods by the end of May.

 

More than 19 million people were stricken by the calamity, according to E Jingping, secretary-general of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, who is also vice minister of water resources.

 

Some 1 million hectares of farmland were flooded and 71,000 houses have been destroyed, causing direct economic losses of over 13 billion yuan (about US$1.64), said the official.

 

To get the situation worse, heavy rains are estimated to hit the vast regions south of the Yangtze River, China's longest, in 10 days, bringing maximum rainfall of 150 mm in a few areas, according to a weather forecast by China Meteorological Bureau on Friday.

 

Weather experts said many Chinese regions will enter a flood season as of June, alerting local flood-control departments against possible mountainous torrents, landslides and other rain-triggered disasters.

 

While the southern regions are soaked, the northern part of the country has suffered from lasting drought which resulted in a shortage of drinking water for 9.49 million people.

 

The drought has affected 12.1 million hectares of farmland mainly in northern and northeastern areas. The drinking water shortage has also affected 8.7 million livestock.

 

In late April when the drought was most serious, it threatened supplies of drinking water to more than 14 million Chinese and affected 16.3 million hectares of farmland. It eased in mid May after rain fell across China, except in northern and northeastern areas.

 

The lasting drought, featured by strong winds and high temperatures, has rapidly spread across most of the north and incurred greater losses than usual, said E Jingping.

 

Northeast China, home of the country's largest virgin forest that just narrowly survived raging blazes, may welcome 10 days of moderate but unbalanced rainfall, which is expected to temporarily ease the chronic drought.

 

"China faces an arduous task drought relief and flood control," said the official, adding that the abnormal climate marked by the coexistence of flooding and drought would remain in the flood season.

 

E Jingping made the remarks at a ceremony held in Beijing on Thursday to distribute educational materials on flood-control knowledge to the public.

 

Local residents, particularly those residing along major rivers, will learn basic information and self-rescue measures from video tapes, wall maps and brochures. The flood-control campaign requires joint efforts from the government and the public as people's active role will help effectively reduce casualties and damages, said the official.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2006)