Saturday, 25 June, 2005
Summer floods in China have killed 567 people and forced over two million from their homes, the government has said.
Torrential rains in much of the country have left areas of southern China submerged beneath muddy waters in the deadliest early floods for a decade.
Heavy rains have come sooner than usual, leaving the city of Wuzhou, and the provinces of Guangxi and Guangdong seriously affected.
President Hu Jintao has ordered officials to increase emergency relief.
"Faced with a serious fight against the floods... we must quickly step up efforts at organising construction and inspections of major dykes, reservoirs and reserve flood areas," he said at a flood prevention meeting, quoted by People's Daily newspaper.
Officials have warned of the spread of cholera and other intestinal diseases.
The Chinese Health Ministry said, quoted by China News Service, that nearly 3,400 cases of cholera, dysentery and typhoid fever had been recorded in the first six months of the year, and that the figure was still rising.
The worst flooding in recent years was in 1998, when 4,150 people died.
Rivers have burst their banks and mudslides have contributed to the death toll in the south, where 124 people died in the past week, Chinese state media said.
Central drought
Chinese officials expressed concern that the floods have yet to peak.
Some 2.45 million people have been evacuated from their homes, officials said.
In Wuzhou, a city of 300,000 people, residents were forced to construct makeshift boats and rafts as flood water approached the upper floors of houses.
Meanwhile water levels reached their highest in at least 90 years in the Pearl River, which flows past the regional business centre Guangdong.
Much of China is hit by floods every year, often spreading quickly because of deforested hillsides that trigger landslides and do not prevent flood waters from building up.
The floods, which have come early in the annual wet season, have caused an estimated 22.9bn yuan ($2.77bn) worth of damage, reports say.
Hong Kong was hit by heavy rains on Friday, causing traffic delays.
Services on the main rail line from Hong Kong to China were suspended after a landslide.
The situation in the south contrasted with soaring temperatures in central and northern regions.
The central province of Anhui is enduring a record drought, while a heat wave has persisted in the Chinese capital, Beijing.