Severe flooding has decimated a region west of Shanghai, killing as many as 130 people and millions of animals while damaging $5.7 billion worth of crops, Reuters reported.
The rain over the past week forced 1.3 million from their homes in Anhui. Aside from the loss of crops, the flooding reportedly killed 7,100 hogs, 215 bulls and 5.14 million fowl, according to the China News Service.
The reported death toll varied. The BBC reported more than 180 dead and at least 45 missing. Dozens reportedly died in a mudslide in Guizhou Province.
"Our country’s flood control work has entered a critical stage. For the next step, the state authorities will make plans based on the most adverse situation,” the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said in a statement on its website. China's State Television showed images of rescue efforts, damaged areas, and urban areas swamped by water.
According to China's Ministry of Civil Affairs, rainfall since late-June has destroyed 22,000 houses and forced 726,000 to relocate in provinces including Jiangsu, Hubei, Henan and Sichuan.
Water in 43 rivers has exceeded warning levels and authorities have sent workers to patrol the river dykes, said Chen Guiya, an official with the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission.
China's meteorological authority renewed its orange alert for heavy rain in the south and southwest of the country on Monday. China has a four-tier color-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
Contributed by Foxnews and Associated press
A rescue mission to save 6,000 pigs from severe flooding district. Two farmers in Anhui province were photographed breaking down as they looked at their pigs struggling, up to their snouts in water. Their farm lies near the banks of the Yangtze River, which has overflowed after days of heavy rainfall. It appeared that the pigs would become victims of the floods, which have killed more than 100 people and caused severe property damage in communities along the river.
According to local media, though, the public outcry led to the pigs being rescued. A local organisation visited the farm and managed to save the pigs, according to Anhui News. Flooding in the river basin has left 112 people dead or missing in recent days, state media said on Tuesday, with more damage feared from a typhoon expected to make landfall within days.
Some 16 million people have been affected by heavy rains that have left vast areas under water near the Yangtze, China's longest river, the Beijing News cited the civil affairs ministry as saying. Water levels in Taihu Lake, close to Shanghai, are at their highest level since 1954, it said, adding the area faced a "serious" risk of flooding if a typhoon hit nearby on Friday.
Flooding is common during the summer monsoon season in southern China, but rainfall has been particularly heavy this year and many areas have been lashed by torrential rains this week. China's national observatory issued an orange alert for storms across the country's south and east last week - the second highest warning in a four-tiered system.
Whole villages were levelled and at least 98 killed in the eastern province of Jiangsu last month after the region was hit by a storm with hurricane-force winds and the worst tornado in half a century.
Floods have also hit South Asia this week, with 33 killed in Pakistan and 25 left dead in India after unusually heavy rains.
Contributed by the Telegraph
