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Heavy rains kill 70, losses mounting in S China

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Meteorologists warned Monday of continuing heavy downpours in a large swath of southern areas where lashing storms have already claimed at least 70 lives and forced the relocation of about 145,000 people in less than a week.

A villager carrying two children walks Sunday along a muddy road covered by a landslide in Nanding County, Jiangxi Province. The strong rainstorm, which began Wednesday, has destroyed roads in many areas of the province. [Xinhua]

The China Meteorological Administration said torrential rainfalls, strong enough to cause landslides, are expected in the next three days in the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hunan and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as well as Chongqing Municipality, some of which suffered the worst drought in a century earlier this year.

The fresh storms have already triggered flash flooding and mud-rock flows, swollen rivers and burst dikes, as well as threatened reservoirs and damaged highways, bridges and power and telecommunication facilities.

The 145,000 displaced residents have been evacuated since Wednesday, when the torrential rains began flooding southern China, the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said in a statement Monday. The main causes of death were attributed to mud and landslides, as well as housing collapses, according to the headquarters.

Guangdong was one of the worst-hit areas. The latest figures showed that 19 resi-dents were killed, and six were missing. More than 80,000 residents were evacuated, and 10,174 homes were toppled. A 168-millimeter rainfall was recorded Monday in Jiangmen, marking the highest rain total in Guangdong.

Local aid was being rushed Monday to people in storm-hit regions.

Chen Junwei was among the county government officials in Zhangshi, who distributed food and clothes to local villagers.

Chen told the Global Times that the torrential flooding and debris flow had leveled two residential areas of Shangyang village in his county.

"There haven't been any casualties so far. The affected villagers have all moved to their relatives nearby," Chen said, adding that a rebuilding plan is in the works.

Meanwhile, Jiangxi claimed to have suffered its heaviest rainstorm in 60 years. The latest figures showed that 24 people in more than 60 of the province's cities and counties had been killed. The economic losses could reach 1.24 billion yuan, officials said.

Sun Jun, with the National Meteorological Center, told the Xinhua News Agency that "South China has already entered its flood season, one month earlier than in past years. The biggest floods have yet to come."

Sun said the torrential rains were triggered by the El Nino phenomenon, featuring warm and wet air in south China that meets with cooler air in north China traveling south.

Weather conditions in the country have been abnormal, and it is possible that China will experience extreme weather this year, a China Meteorological Administration (CMA) forecast said.

Extreme weather conditions, including rainstorms, flooding and gales, have claimed 94 lives this year with 21 people still missing, according to official figures.

Additionally, more than 80,000 homes have been destroyed, and more than 10 million people in 13 provinces and cities have been affected, as have 673,600 hectares of crop land, with economic losses from the crops alone estimated at about 7.36 billion yuan ($1.08 billion).

In contrast to the heavy rain, much of southern China has been desperate for water since March.

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