BEIJING: Heavy rainfall will continue to hit southern China for the first half of this month following continuous rainstorms in some of the country’s regions since June 2 that have caused big losses of life and economic damage, according to meteorological and emergency management agencies.
Since flood season started in March, the country has seen 24 regional strong convective weather processes, and in June eight rounds of short-term thunderstorms, gales or hail occurred, according to China Meteorological Administration.
In June, the average precipitation was 112.7mm, 13.5% above average. Nearly 60% of counties in South China experienced rainstorms in June, mainly in the provinces of Guizhou and Sichuan, Chongqing municipality, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, the administration said.
“Winds from the south and the west have continuously transported water vapour from the South China Sea and the Bay of Bengal to the Yangtze River, providing abundant water, ” Zhang Fanghua, chief forecaster with the National Meteorological Centre, said on Friday.
At the same time, cold air from North China continued to move southward, meeting warm air and providing dynamic conditions conducive to the occurrence of heavy rainfall, she added.
The sustained rainstorms had affected 12.1 million people scattered across 13 provincial regions along or south of the Yangtze River, killing 78, ruining almost 80,000ha of crops and leading to 25.7 billion yuan (RM15.6bil) in direct economic damage, according to the latest national data available from the Emergency Management Ministry.
Wang Zhihua, deputy head of the disaster relief and public service department of the China Meteorological Administration said on Friday that until July 13, there would be more rainfall in southern regions than in previous years. — China Daily/ANN
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