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S China sees end to rainstorms next week

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-27 01:01
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BEIJING - Forecasts indicate that south China will see an end next week to the torrential rains that have killed more than 200 people in recent weeks, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said Saturday.

Many regions, including Fujian and Guangdong provinces, look forward to sunny days expected to begin Monday, which means that flooding in south China is expected to ease, the NMC said in a statement on its website.

However, rainstorms could still sweep through regions including southern Zhejiang, southern Jiangxi, southwestern Sichuan and eastern Yunnan Saturday evening and Sunday morning, the statement warned.

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The NMC also urged local authorities to continue to step up inspections against potential risks to lives and property.

Since June 13, heavy rains and floods in south and central China had killed 235 people and left 109 missing as of Friday, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Additionally, more than 3 million people have been evacuated due to flood waters, which destroyed 239,000 homes and resulted in economic losses reaching 53.35 billion yuan (US$7.84 billion).

A seven-hour torrential rain till 4 a.m. Saturday hit Malong County of Yunnan, filling a nearby reservoir to the brim and submerging the country, with water depth up to 1.5 meters over some roads, said county official Feng Rongli.

According to the local government, as of 5 p.m. Saturday, more than 1,000 stores and 1,000 homes were inundated by the floods, which had cut off electricity in the county. About 55,000 people were affected and more than 6,000 people had been evacuated.

Guangdong's flood control authority said that 603.5 millimeters of rain fell in its Huilai county over a six-hour period on Friday, a 500-year record.

The NMC also said high temperatures would continue to hover over north China Sunday, including in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the provinces of Heilongjiang, Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong, with the warmest temperature expected to reach 38 degrees Celsius in northeastern Inner Mongolia.