China floods claim hundreds of lives

BEIJING, July 31 (UPI) -- Weeks of heavy rains in China have brought flooding, lightning and landslides resulting in more than 700 deaths this year, it was reported Tuesday.

The death toll was pushed higher when floods killed 20 people died in northern China's Shanxi Province since Saturday, the Xinhua news agency reported. Yuncheng city had rain for 36 consecutive hours from 8 p.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday with a precipitation of nearly 12 inches, according to the provincial meteorological station.

The precipitation has destroyed 450,000 homes and millions of acres of crops, while affecting 119 million people, Xinhua said.

"There's an urgent need for rice, clean drinking water, shelter, clothing, medical services and disinfectant," Gu Qinghui of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told the BBC news network.

"It's the rural poor who are suffering the most, including many farmers."

Deadly flooding occurs annually China where millions of people farm land in the flood plains of major rivers. Last year, about 2,704 people died in flooding and typhoons in China, the country's Meteorological Administration said.