Severe flood in Southern China have killed 22 people since Saturday. More than 20 people are still missing, officials said. The government has warned the citizens saying the rainfall is expected to continue for the next three days.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs said on its website that around 200,000 people have been forced to evacuate their houses in eight southern provinces and regions including Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Zhejiang and Anhui.
Xinhua, the official news agency of China, reported that the river water levels had been rising up to dangerous levels due to constant storms. It has damaged the crops and more than 10,500 houses have collapsed.
The agency said this has resulted into an estimated economic loss of 7.34 billion yuan ($1.1 billion).
Xinhua also added that last week there was heavy rainfall for three days which had killed 14 people.
The country has been frequently experiencing natural disasters, particularly floods and earthquakes. The poor drainage infrastructure in several cities has made it worse during the floods.
The citizens were warned by the Chinese officials about the potential for record floods this year due to a strong El Nino weather pattern. El Nino has been linked to serious crop damage, forest fires, flash flood and drought as it warms the sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific.
