(RoyalPatriot.com )- The BBC reported last week that hundreds of thousands of residents in Southern China have been forced to evacuate due to excessive rainfall and flooding.
The historic flooding throughout the southern and eastern regions of China in recent days has caused over $253 million in damage, according to China’s official state agency, Xinhua.
Xinhua reported last Monday that the flood control and drought relief headquarters in Jiangxi Province in eastern China upgraded its flood control emergency response to Level II as approximately 485,000 residents were affected.
The relentless rain over the past week caused the Jiangxi Province’s waterways to swell and the water level on Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China rose 0.05 meters higher than the alert level had initially anticipated.
The record rainfall and flooding have also affected the Hunan and Guangdong Provinces in Southern China, impacting over 250,000 people in Hunan alone.
In Hunan, 94 homes were destroyed, forcing over 51,000 local residents to evacuate. Over 21,000 hectares of crops in Hunan were also damaged.
In Guangdong Province, the torrential rain caused flooding and landslides. Over 479,000 people living in the cities Shaoguan, Heyuan, and Meizhou have been impacted by the rain.
Shaoguan City had already suffered higher than average rainfall in May. By last Tuesday, the flood alert level was lifted to Level I, and residents living along the river banks were instructed to relocate to higher ground.
While Southern China regularly experiences flooding during the summer rainy season, this year’s rainfall marks the highest average recorded in six decades.
According to the BBC, China’s National Meteorological Center said between early May and the middle of June, the average rainfall in Guangdong, Fujian, and Guangxi Provinces reached 621 millimeters. That’s the highest average since 1961.
