China floods: Death toll rises to 29 in Hebei

CHINA, Aug 12: The death toll from Typhoon Doksuri and the devastating floods that followed has risen to 29 in the northern Chinese province of Hebei, with 16 people still missing and close to 4 million people affected, the provincial government said on Friday morning.

Reconstruction could take as long as two years, it added.

The new death toll is more than three times the number announced by the province on August 1 and includes six people who were missing at the time. Rescue efforts are still underway.

Zhang Chengzhong, Hebei's vice-governor, said on Friday that 3.88 million people in the province had been affected by the floods and 1.75 million had been resettled from their homes.

Among those relocated, 978,400 were previously living in "flood storage" areas and their homes were inundated by floodwaters.

Authorities in Hebei said they would try to ensure residents forced to move could return home or move into new residences before winter.

More than 40,000 houses collapsed and over 150,000 others were seriously damaged in the torrential rains and floods that affected 110 counties in Hebei, Zhang said.

Zhang added that 1,150 schools and 1,871 medical facilities were damaged.

The Hebei provincial government said it was still assessing the damage, but that direct economic losses from the floods had already exceeded 95.8 billion yuan (US$13.4 billion).

On Friday, China's Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Emergency Management issued 1.46 billion yuan in flood control funds, increasing the total amount to 7.738 billion yuan this year

Several provinces in northern and northeastern China suffered severe flooding in late July and early August because of historically heavy rainfall brought by Typhoon Doksuri.

A village in the city of Xingtai reported receiving 1,008.5mm (39.7 inches) of rain during the recent storms, more than any other locality in the province, Zhang said.

Earlier this month, Beijing, which neighbours Hebei, announced rainfall in the capital city hit 745mm during the storms, breaking a 140-year record.

Beijing reported 33 deaths as of Friday, more than any other provincial-level region in China.

(MSN)