Seven people died and two were missing in constant rainstorms on
Friday and Saturday that have devastated parts of Meizhou City,
south China's Guangdong Province.
By
6:00 p.m. Saturday, the storms had incurred direct economic losses
of 280 million yuan (US$33.73 million), said the city's flood
prevention headquarters.
Preliminary statistics from the headquarters also show 406,000
people in 89 towns affected by the rainstorms as 2,440 houses were
destroyed and 26,370 hectares of crops were damaged.
Long stretches of power transmission and telecommunications lines,
highways and bridges have also been destroyed.
Leading officials of the city have directed rescue operations at
the devastated areas. So far, more than 18,000 people have been
evacuated from flooded areas.
(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2003)