More than five million hit by China floods
MORE than five million people have been displaced or otherwise affected by flooding in eastern China that is also pushing up food prices, state media report.
Torrential rains have left huge areas of Hubei and Zhejiang provinces under water, with more than 432,200 hectares of farmland inundated, the official Xinhua News Agency said today.
Almost 1000 businesses have been forced to suspend operations and 5.7 million people have had their lives disrupted, Xinhua said in a brief report. More than 7000 homes collapsed or were otherwise damaged and direct financial damage was estimated at almost 6 billion yuan ($884.87 million).
The downpour triggered a mudslide that buried houses and killed two people in Zhejiang’s Changshan county, while two more were killed and two left missing by flooding in Hubei, Xinhua said.