Floods in southern China kill 25, displace over 33,000

BEIJING – A week of torrential rain in southern China has killed 25 people and displaced 33,200 residents, including many in China’s poor, remote regions, officials said.

China’s Civil Affairs Ministry says 4 million people in 10 provinces have been affected by floods and landslides since heavy rainfall began Monday. Six people are still missing.

In southeastern Jiangxi Province, people pushed cars floating in waist-high water while online footage showed vehicles swept away, as near record levels of rainfall battered southwestern China.

The southern part of the country is hit every year during the monsoon seasons of May, June and July, but this rainy season has been particularly wet. Water levels in some major rivers have exceeded those of 1998, when China was hit by disastrous floods that affected 180 million people, according to state media reports.

In recent weeks, authorities have taken emergency measures, including discharging water from the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.

The direct economic losses from the floods have so far totalled more than $550 million, according to the Civil Affairs Ministry.