China natural disasters cost $3.3 billion in first quarter, government says
Floods, droughts, an earthquake and freezing conditions in China caused direct economic losses of 23.76 billion yuan ($3.28 billion) in the first quarter, the government said on Saturday.
The emergency management ministry cited damage from several cold spells, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, landslides in Yunnan province in the southwest and flooding on the Yellow River.
The disasters killed 79 people while 110,000 needed emergency relocation and resettlement and 10.4 million people across 26 regions and provinces were affected in the period, the ministry said in a report.
Other natural disasters included a drought in the southwest affecting 424,000 hectares (10,500 acres) of crops, sandstorms in the northwest and forest fires in the southwest and south.
Last year natural disasters in China caused 345.45 billion yuan ($47.7 billion) of direct economic losses, with 691 people dead or missing, the ministry reported in January.
In January the ministry said it plans a three-year campaign to tackle problems hampering response times during disasters and accidents, including production safety lapses in sectors like mining.
Intense rainfall at the start of the weekend saw around 300 homes evacuated in north-east Sydney, emergency services said.
Floodwaters had caused widespread damage across the state in a very short amount of time, federal minister for emergency management
Catherine King said.
“The New South Wales government is continuing to assess the damage and understand the impact of this disaster,” King added.
Emergency crews had performed about 200 flood rescues since Friday, said state minister for emergency services Jihad Dib, as some regions were left cut off by damaged or flooded roads.
Around 5,000 volunteers had worked through the night helping those affected, he added.
Rescue teams evacuate flood-ravaged Australian town
State emergency commissioner Carlene York said 60 community warnings remained in place for regions affected by the flooding.
Disaster support had been triggered by officials in a dozen areas to help cover clean-up costs and pay for emergency accommodation. It was the region’s seventh flood in 18 months.
Researchers have repeatedly warned that climate change amplifies the risk of natural disasters such as floods, bushfires and cyclones.
Rescuers in boats and aircraft raced against the clock Sunday to help isolated people in Brazil’s mountainous southeast after storms and heavy rains left at least 25 people dead in two states.
A weekend deluge pounded the states of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo, where authorities described a chaotic situation due to flooding.
The death toll in Espirito Santo rose from four to 17 on Sunday as rescuers advanced, aided by water levels that had dropped overnight as the rainfall temporarily subsided.
The most affected municipality was Mimoso do Sul, a town of almost 25,000 inhabitants in the south of Espirito Santo, where flooding has killed at least 15 people.
Ruined mattresses, armchairs and household appliances formed mountains of wreckage in the streets as the floodwaters receded.
“I’ve never seen a flood like this,” Michelly Oliveira, 37, told local news site A Gazeta.
The shopkeeper held back tears as she said she was grateful to be alive, though her source of income – her shoe store – was destroyed.
Two more people died in the municipality of Apiaca.
State Governor Renato Casagrande described the situation as “chaotic,” though falling water levels on Sunday had allowed rescuers to make their way to previously inaccessible areas.
At least 5,200 people had been evacuated from their homes, state authorities said.
In the neighboring state of Rio de Janeiro at least eight people have been killed, officials said, most of them from landslides.
“It floods every year, at least once. But this year it is already the third,” Nicellio Ramos, 52, from Duque de Caxias, told AFP.
Four of the deaths in Rio state occurred when the storm caused a house to collapse in the city of Petropolis, 70 kilometers (45 miles) inland from the capital.
Search teams rescued a girl buried for more than 16 hours there. Her father, who was found dead next to her on Saturday, had “heroically protected the girl with his body,” a neighbor told.