Seven people were killed and 10.86 million more affected in floods caused by prolonged concentrated torrential rains in Huaihe River drainage basin since last week.

Hard-hit areas included 15 cities of Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, says information from Huaihe River Water Resources Committee of the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources.

A total of 14,000 houses fell apart in the floods that also destroyed more than 1.34 million ha of crops, plus plenty of water control infrastructure, causing combined economic losses of 5.3 billion yuan (about 663 million U.S. dollars).

In Anhui alone, for instance, the worst hit areas were six cities of Chuzhou, Suzhou, Bengbu, Huaibei, Bozhou and Fuyang which were washed by rainwater from downpour since June 28. And the level of water in many tributaries of Huaihe river has kept rising.

Three people were killed in the flooding in Anhui, with 4.12 million residents being affected, including 44,400 residents who were forced to be displaced from their homes.

The above-mentioned three provinces have been waging flood control and relief operation in an orderly manner.

Important tributaries at the upper reaches of the Huaihe River are discharging the flooded water downstream in a planned way, and no obvious change in the quality of the water in the mainstream of the Huaihe has been ascertained, according to the Huaihe River Water Resources Committee.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2006)