Society

29M affected by relentless rain, 199 dead

By Yan Weijue (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-06-22 17:06

Continuing torrential rains in 10 provinces in South China have left 199 dead, and 123 missing as of 11:00 am on June 22, according to a website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, chinanews.com.cn reported.

More than 29.13 million people have been affected, among whom 2.38 million have been evacuated to safer areas.

A total of 568,000 homes have been damaged, 195,000 houses have collapsed and 1.61 million hectares of crops have been affected, with a direct economic loss of 42.12 billion yuan ($6.18 billion), the website shows.

The ministry has dispatched more than 18,000 tents and 20,000 quilts to disaster areas in Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong.