The death toll from heavy rains across central and southern China since the weekend has risen to 22, with 20 more people still unaccounted for, state media reports showed on Wednesday.
Natural disasters and extreme weather events are common in China, particularly in the summer, when some regions experience intense rainfall while others bake in searing heat.
“Several areas across China have been hit by ‘record-breaking rainfall’ in recent days,” state-run broadcaster CGTN said, triggering school and work suspensions as well as the allocation of relief funds.
“Five were reported dead and 11 others missing in the rugged central province of Hunan,” the state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday.
Xinhua reported the previous day that the downpour affected more than 61,500 people in one provincial county, without elaborating.
“In the southern region of Guangxi, 10 people were confirmed dead on Tuesday after a truck plunged into a swollen river while attempting to cross on Saturday evening,” Xinhua said.
According to that report, someone reported the first death in that incident on Sunday.
Heavy rains have also battered the nearby province of Guizhou, resulting in four deaths and five more missing.
Further north, in the central Hubei province, three were dead and four missing in floods caused by torrential rains that also collapsed some structures and severed communication to some villages.
“Government authorities allocated 120 million yuan ($17.6 million) in disaster relief funds for five affected regions on Tuesday,” Xinhua reported.
Xinhua reported that an additional 30 million yuan was allocated for Guizhou province, which had suffered heavy casualties and property losses.
Nearly 24,000 people were evacuated in affected areas across Hunan, Guizhou and Hubei, according to an AFP tally.
Weather forecasts indicate that the region is expected to experience continuous rainfall in the coming days.
Scientists warn the intensity and frequency of global extreme weather events will increase as the planet continues to heat up because of fossil fuel emissions.
China is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, but it is also a global renewable energy powerhouse that aims to make its massive economy carbon-neutral by 2060.
