Heaviest rainfall in Beijing in at least 140 years causes more than $13 billion in economic losses – China’s Xi calls for measures to mitigate disastrous flooding amid economic slowdown
BEIJING, 17 August 2023 (AP) – Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for measures to mitigate the effects of this year’s disastrous flooding which has left scores dead and inflicted massive damage on crops, homes and infrastructure, including in and around Beijing.
At least 90 rivers have risen above warning levels and 24 have already overflowed their banks, according to state media, threatening a vast area in northeastern China with flooding, including the Songliao Basin north of the capital, which encompasses more than 1.2 million square kilometers (482,200 square miles) with a population of almost 100 million.
“As China is still in the main flood season, rainstorms, floods, typhoons and other disasters still occur frequently in many places across the country,” the Xinhua News Agency said, summarizing conclusions of Thursday’s meeting of the party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee presided over by Xi.
Participants “urged relevant localities and departments to always prioritize the safety of people’s lives and property, and keep doing a good job in flood prevention and disaster relief,” Xinhua said.
The reinforcement of dams and the efficient use of disaster relief funds to “repair damaged infrastructure such as transport, communications and electricity, and restore farmland and agricultural facilities” is crucial, it said.
Schools, hospitals and nursing homes must be swiftly restored, along with damaged housing “to ensure the affected residents can return home or move to new homes before the winter.”
The flooding this year has also affected large parts of the central and eastern parts of the country, both in the semi-tropical south and the northern plains.
Much of China is having a particularly damp summer, with 142 people killed by flooding in July and dozens more this month.
Meteorologists warned that thunderstorms, gales and hail will affect parts of Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Hebei, Beijing, and Tianjin in the north, along with Henan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Fujian to the center and southeast.
Residents have been urged to reduce outdoor activities and seek shelter.
The severe weather comes as economic growth slid to 0.8% in the three months ending in June, down from 2.2% in January-March. That is equivalent to a 3.2% annual rate, which would be among China’s weakest in decades.
A survey in June found unemployment among urban workers aged 16 to 24 spiked to a record 21.3%. The statistics bureau said this week it would withhold updates while it refined its measurement.
In a speech recently published by Qiushi, the party’s top theoretical journal, Xi called for patience in a as the party tries to reverse the deepening economic slump.
That came hours after data Tuesday showed consumer and factory activity weakened further in July despite official promises to support struggling entrepreneurs. The government skipped giving an update on a politically sensitive spike in unemployment among young people.
China’s Xi calls for measures to mitigate disastrous flooding amid economic slowdown
Severe floods in China’s northern province killed 29 and caused tens of billions of economic losses
BEIJING, 11 August 2023 (AP) – Severe floods in China’s northern province of Hebei brought by remnants of Typhoon Doksuri this month killed at least 29 people and caused billions of dollars in economic losses, its provincial government said Friday.
Official news agency Xinhua reported that rescue crews were still searching for 16 missing people as of Thursday and the province’s reconstruction is expected to take two years to complete. Initial estimates showed the province’s direct economic losses amounted to 95.8 billion yuan ($13.2 billion), state media China News Service said.
Last week, Hebei was hit by serious flooding as the remnants of the typhoon battered the region and brought the heaviest rainfall in neighboring Beijing in at least 140 years.
Official preliminary estimates announced Friday showed 3.9 million residents, or about 5% of the province’s population, were being affected by the floods and more than 40,000 houses were collapsed, China News Service said. A further 155,500 houses and other facilities that provided electricity and communications were seriously damaged, it added.
More than 1.75 million residents have been relocated.
Repairs to damaged power cables and other facilities were underway Friday. According to Xinhua, the government pledged to ensure affected residents can move back to their homes or have new homes before winter.
Earlier this week, officials said the death toll from recent flooding in Beijing rose to 33 and it could take up to three years to restore services completely, given the level of damage.
The Chinese government on Friday has further allocated 1.46 billion yuan ($202 million) of disaster relief funds to support flood-stricken regions, including Beijing and Tianjin, state media CCTV reported. This brought the total amount of the relief funds to 7.74 billion yuan ($1.07 billion), it added.
Severe floods in China’s northern province killed 29 and caused tens of billions of economic losses
