Many deaths in south China flooding
Crops washed out, thousands homeless
July 3, 1996
Web posted at: 10:55 a.m. EDTSOUTHERN CHINA (CNN) -- Summer floods are common in southern China but this year's have been worse than any in recent memory. (611K QuickTime movie)
Estimates vary, but reports say about 100 people or more have been killed by flooding and mudslides. Flooding, triggered by record-setting torrential rain, has also left large numbers of people in the heavily-populated area injured, homeless or missing.
Up to 11 inches of rain have fallen in the region since last weekend, inundating thousands of houses and vast areas of farmland. In Anhui, a hard-hit province west of Shanghai, at least 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of farmland are under water.
The rain's impact has been magnified because centuries of over-farming have stripped hillsides of vegetation needed to trap rainfall.
Deaths were also reported in Zhejiang province, a coastal area near Shanghai about 700 miles southeast of Beijing.
Mudslide hits train station
At least 16 people were killed in a mudslide Tuesday at the train station in Guiyang, capital of the mountainous southwestern province of Guizhou, the China Youth Daily newspaper reported. It said at least 13 others were missing.
Also hit were the provinces of Jiangxi, which borders Zhejiang to the west, and Guangxi on the southern border with Vietnam.
Thousands of soldiers and government rescue workers have been dispatched to rescue thousands of stranded villagers and repair highways and railroads, the government-run China Daily said.
Beijing Bureau Chief Andrea Koppel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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