Editor's Note: Are natural phenomena really natural? These disasters should be viewed from truly scientific point of view.

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FLOOD

Chinese News Agency (August 9,2000): Parts of China may have local floods this year

During this spring and summer, people have been well informed of the continuously worsening drought situation. But as we enter into August, parts of China are threatened by flood.

According to the weather bureau's forecast, August rainfalls will be above-average in: south China to south of the Yangtze River, the southern part of southwestern China, the south part of north China to west of Yellow River and Huai River, the northern part of northeastern China, and the central part of northwestern China. Among these areas, most parts of Guangdong province and the western part of Sichuan province will have 20 to 30 percent more rainfall than normal. These regions may have local flooding.

It is forecasted that there will be 4 to 5 tropical storms or typhoons forming in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. Among these, 2 to 3 may make landfall along the coast of China, which is near to or above average. While the drought situation persists in northern regions, we still need to be wary of the possibility of flash floods in the rainy season.

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(Duowei News, August 12) The downpours beginning in mid-July in Shanxi province have caused floods and torrents of mountain mud, resulting in the deaths of 203 people, the toppling of 20,000 houses, the ruining of 4000 Chinese hectares of agricultural land; 18000 people have been left homeless.

According to the report of Sun Newspaper, there have been 6 downpours in this province since the beginning of the flood season this year. The economic losses have been totaled at 1.43 billion Yuan RMB.

The flood prevention headquarters of Shanxi province revealed that up to August 10, there have been 31 counties struck by floods, resulting in 1.54 million residents affected, with many of residences and agricultural land flooded, immersed, damaged or ruined. The downpours in mid-July struck 8 counties and cities in Shanxi province causing lots of deaths and losses. The officials of the central and provincial government are working day and night to hasten the disaster relief actions.

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China's Henan Suffers 1.45 Billion USD Flood Damage

BEIJING, Aug 8, 2000 -- (Reuters) China's agricultural central province of Henan suffered 12 billion yuan (USD1.45 billion) in economic losses from floods this summer, Xinhua news agency said.

The Yellow River basin region, in most years one of China's driest provinces, was hit by five heavy storms since June which caused flooding in 15 major cities and prefectures and affected 22.75 million people, the agency said.

Flood waters inundated 1.46 million hectares (3.6 million acres) of crops, it quoted civil affairs officials as saying.

The report did not give a death toll for the Henan floods or details of the crop damage.

Aug. 8, 2000

(Compiled and translated from related reports in http://www.minghui.org)