BEIJING: At least 15 people have been killed and three others went missing in continuous rainstorms that hit north China's Shanxi Province, which also displaced over 1.20 lakh people, local government said on Tuesday.
From October 2 to 7, Shanxi experienced the strongest autumn flood on record. Continuous rainfall has affected nearly 1.76 million residents in 76 county-level regions across the province, and 120,100 people have been relocated.
About 238,460 hectares of crops have been damaged and 37,700 houses collapsed or seriously damaged, causing direct economic losses to the tune of 5.03 billion yuan (USD 780 million), state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The largely arid province, Shanxi, has reported more than five times its usual rainfall since the start of the month, resulting in the destruction of dams and rail lines, reports said.
Shanxi, a major coal producer, has also shut 60 coal mines, adding to concerns over supplies of the fuel as China struggles with power cuts.
Till Monday, the disaster had caused the suspension of 530 high-voltage lines of 10 kV and above, and 332,700 households had lost power, reports said.
Over 6,021 km of roads were also damaged, resulting in the interruption of 32 sections of expressways, 72 highway sections, and 3,238 rural road sections.
As of Monday, 30 blocked sections of expressways across the province had resumed traffic, while 19 sections and 2,800 sections of highways and rural roads were reopened.
The power supply department dispatched a total of 12,948 personnel and 3,210 vehicles to repair the damaged facilities.
Now over 95 per cent of households that had lost power have resumed power supply, reports said.
The provincial authorities have earmarked 50 million yuan (about USD 7.8 million) to support flood control and relief measures.