Floods and droughts in China led to economic losses totaling 200 billion yuan (US$24 billion) in 2003, Zhang Zhitong, deputy-director of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, told a national conference Tuesday.

Floods hit 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country, while droughts troubled 157 cities in 15 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

Above average amounts of rain fell in 2003 on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, Huaihe, Yellow, Songhua and Nenjiang rivers and in Xinjiang Uygur, Tibet and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions, Zhang said.

However, less rain fell in the Pearl River, Haihe and Liaohe rivers catchment areas, southeast China, central and southern areas south of the Yangtze River, and in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces in northeast China, Zhang said.

Flooding affected 20 million hectares of farmland and destroyed 2.45 million houses, affecting 220 million people.

Droughts hit northeast China last spring and south China last summer, affecting 25 million hectares of farmland and 24.41 million people.

Last year, the Huaihe River experienced its worst flooding since 1954, and the central Yellow River saw the worst flooding ever recorded.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2004)