Firefighters of the armed police help rescue guests trapped in a hotel in Yangshuo county, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Sunday. Continuous heavy rainfall has triggered floods in many places in southern China. Photo: cnsphoto

China's Ministry of Water Resource (MWR) adjusted the flood defense emergency response to level III Monday noon, after floods in southern and eastern parts of China affected more than one million people and caused economic losses of 2.88 billion yuan ($407 million). 

As of Monday, more than 50 rivers in eight provinces and regions of southern and eastern China experienced floods above the warning level, including South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guangdong province, Central China's Hunan province and Guizhou province and Southwest China's Yunnan Province, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management. 

The floods were caused by strong regional rainfall that began on June 1.  

1.76 million people have been affected, with 120,000 evacuated and 69,000 in need of emergency assistance. Nine people died and five are missing, reported the Center of Disaster Reduction in China on Monday.

The flood has also resulted in direct economic losses of 2.88 billion yuan ($407 million) with more than 113,500 hectares of crops affected and 13,000 houses damaged to varying degrees.

The MWR has sent designated teams to Hunan and Guangxi to aid and instruct local flood control work. 

In Hunan, 93,500 people in more than 20 cities and counties have been affected by the floods, with some 3,200 people evacuated, said the provincial ministry of flood control and drought relief on Monday. 

Guangxi experienced a more serious situation, with floods affecting a total of 700,000 people and leaving four dead and one missing since May 30, local authority reported on Monday. 

Yangshuo county has been one of the most heavily hit parts in Guangxi. The county experienced 272 millimeters of heavy rain, a historical record in the area, on Sunday and has been submerged in floods since.

The local government has mobilized sectors at all levels to take part in the flood control and emergency response operations. Authorities also regulated that all officials should strictly follow discipline during the operations, and anyone found absent from their posts will be put on record. 

The MWR launched a level-IV flood defense emergency response on Sunday and raised it to level-III on Monday.

According to forecasts from the National Meteorological Center, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan and other places in the western parts of China's rain belt will continue to see rainfall until June 15. 

Global Times