China: At least 29 people have been killed and hundreds of billions of dollars in economic damage have been caused by severe flooding in China’s northern province of Hebei this month. The official Xinhua news agency reported that rescuers were still searching for 16 missing people as of Thursday.
The reconstruction is expected to take two years to complete. State media China News Service said a preliminary estimate showed the direct economic loss to the province was 95.8 billion yuan (US$13.2 billion).
Last week, Hebei was hit by severe floods that devastated the region. Official preliminary estimates announced on Friday showed that 3.9 million residents, or about 5 percent of the province’s population, were affected by the floods and more than 40,000 homes collapsed, China News Service said.
It added that 155,500 homes and other facilities providing power and communications were severely damaged. While over 1.75 million residents have been relocated.
According to Xinhua, the government has promised to ensure that affected residents can return to their homes or get new homes before winter. Earlier this week, the death toll from the latest floods in Beijing rose to 33 and it could take up to three years to fully restore services, depending on the level of damage.