Rain-triggered floods affect over 954,000 in China's Guizhou

GUIYANG, July 13 (Xinhua) -- More than 954,000 people from 83 county-level regions in southwest China's Guizhou Province were affected by floods as the province has been battered by torrential rains, local authorities said Tuesday.

The average rainfall in Guizhou this year registered 615.5 mm, 5.6 percent more than the same periods in previous years. Since the flood season, six regional rainstorms have hit the province, with an average precipitation of 433.8 mm, up 10.6 percent compared with the same periods in the past years, according to the provincial emergency management department.

The extreme weather has led to the evacuation of 26,000 people, causing a direct economic loss of more than 1.23 billion yuan (about 190 million U.S. dollars).

Floodwaters have also affected 67,900 hectares of crops and damaged 19,300 houses.