(Beijing) More than 240,000 people have been evacuated in eastern China after heavy rains hit much of the country, causing the Yangtze River to swell, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
By Tuesday afternoon, the rains had ravaged “36 counties and districts in seven prefecture-level cities in Anhui, according to the provincial emergency management department” and affected 991,000 residents, 242,000 of whom had to be evacuated, the agency said.
The news outlet also said water levels on the Yangtze River, China’s longest at 6,380 kilometers, had exceeded alert levels in the section that runs through Anhui, a province west of Shanghai.
Alert levels for 20 other rivers and six lakes in the region have also been raised due to the torrential rain.
Last week, four people died and another was reported missing after a landslide in central Hunan following record rainfall.
Heavy rains in previous days had already caused flooding, particularly in the southern province of Guangdong, emblematic of China’s manufacturing power. At least 38 people lost their lives there.
China has been facing extreme weather and locally unusual temperatures in recent months, exacerbated by climate change according to scientists.