At least 19 dead, 20 missing in N China storms

SHIJIAZHUANG - At least 19 people have been confirmed dead and 20 others missing in rain-triggered disasters that occurred over the weekend in north China's Hebei Province, the provincial civil affairs bureau said Tuesday.

The rainstorms brought floods and hail to 58 counties in the province, leading to the evacuation of 177,000 people, according to the bureau.

As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, more than 2.1 million people in Hebei had been affected, a total of 12,961 houses were toppled and 152,100 hectares of cropland damaged, resulting in direct economic losses of about 3 billion yuan (470 million U.S.dollars).

A relief fund of 20 million yuan, 300 tents, 500 coats as well as 10,000 quilts had been allocated to the affected areas by the provincial civil affairs bureau and the provincial department of finance on Monday evening.

National disaster relief and civil affairs authorities initiated a fourth-grade emergency response and sent teams to the province on Sunday to direct relief work.