Heavy rain kills 93 in China in four days

BEIJING, July 4 -- Heavy rain has killed 93 people in11 Chinese provincial regions in four days, leaving another 19 missing.

Continuous rainfall since June 30 has destroyed 22,000 houses and forced 726,000 to relocate in provinces including Jiangsu, Hubei, Henan and Sichuan, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Monday.

Floods have also damaged crops, roads, telecommunication and electricity facilities, stopping traffic and delaying trains in some regions, it said.

Authorities estimated an economic loss of 20.43 billion yuan (3 billion U.S. dollars).

In the worst-hit Hubei Province, torrential rain has affected9.57 million residents in 79 counties and districts, leaving 38 people dead and 17 missing.

By 5 p.m., 308,900 people have been evacuated and of all,234,900 need emergency living assistance, local authorities said.

In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, water in43 rivers has exceeded the warning levels and authorities have sent workers to patrol the river dykes, said Chen Guiya, an official with the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission.

Since the raining season started on June 18, Hubei has received a precipitation of up to 1,295 millimeters, with the single-day rainfalls in many regions being the largest in 100 years.

China's meteorological authority renewed its orange alert for heavy rain in the south and southwest of the country on Monday, saying heavy rain will hit the provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guizhou, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region until Tuesday morning, with precipitation reaching 200 millimeters in some areas.

China has a four-tier color-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.