Chinese city hit by seven inches of rain in three hours
Record-breaking rainstorms in China left 22 people dead, 142 injured and six missing, state media reported today, in the latest weather disaster to hit the country.
Xinhua News Agency said the deaths occurred when rainstorms hit Jinan, capital of Shandong province, last night.
It said the city and surrounding area received a record seven inches of rainfall in a three-hour period.
The storms also stalled traffic and cut electricity and water supplies for three hours, the city government said, according to Xinhua.
Several parts of China have been hit by floods, lightning strikes and droughts in the last few months, killing hundreds of people and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Earlier this week, lightning strikes and mud flows sparked by record-breaking torrential rains killed at least 37 people in western China.
Mudslides also left 32 people dead, five missing and 128 injured on the outskirts of Chongqing city, an independent municipality, where 10.5 inches of rain fell between Monday night and Tuesday afternoon – the largest volume since records began in 1892, Xinhua reported.
