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Heavy Rain, Flooding in China Force Evacuation of Nearly 80,000

Reuters

   BEIJING - The heaviest average rainfall to lash a swathe of southern
   and eastern China in more than half a century brought torrential rain
   and floods, destroying houses, damaging crops and forcing the
   evacuation of nearly 80,000 people, state media said.

   Even more rain is expected, state television said Thursday, after
   average rainfall in the affected areas this week was recorded as 51%
   higher than in the corresponding periods of previous years, and the
   largest since 1961.

   State television showed images of half-submerged buildings and flooded
   streets in some of the worst-hit areas. Trains along the
   Beijing-Guangzhou railway were delayed after rising waters blocked a
   bridge in the southern province of Hunan, it added.

   The latest episode has caused losses of 2.69 billion yuan ($392
   million), with 126,100 hectares (311,600 acres) of farmland damaged and
   1,600 homes collapsed, the Ministry of Emergency Management has
   estimated.

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