Floods triggered by torrential rain have left 1,072 people dead and 619 others missing in China this year, a senior flood control official said yesterday.

The floods affected 140 million people in 28 provinces and regions and caused direct economic losses estimated at almost 210 billion yuan (US$31 billion), said Shu Qingpeng, deputydirector of the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

The flooding also destroyed more than 1.1 million homes and damaged 9.72 million hectares of farmland.

China's large rivers, including the Yangtze, the Yellow and the Songhua, were all swollen to danger levels after heavy rains, which had inundated more than 160 cities across the country, Shu said.

Eight small reservoirs had collapsed during the rainy weather, but no casualties were reported, and another 1,000 reservoirs were at risk. Water also overflowed from some small and medium-sized rivers.

Authorities have evacuated 10.42 million people from areas at risk of flooding.

Shu said the central government had allocated more than 2.1 billion yuan for flood control and rescue work.

The SFDH also supplied more than 2,000 boats, 20,000 life vests and other materials for rescue work.

Some regions along the upper reaches of the Yangtze and the Hanhe River are still experiencing rain and water levels remain high at the Three Gorges Dam and the Danjiangkou Reservoir.

Weather forecasts show heavy rains are expected to pelt areas in Jilin Province from today to Friday.

With the approach of the new round of torrential rains, the country roads in flood-ravaged Nong'an County in Jilin were packed with villagers fleeing their homes yesterday.

Up to 27,000 villagers living downstream from the Songhua River need to be evacuated, said Wang Wei, an official of the county.

"Fresh downpours may lead to the breach of riverbanks and two reservoirs upstream would have to open sluices to discharge water, which would threaten the lives of residents downstream," Wang said.

The swelling Songhua River was at danger level, and the flood control situation remained severe, said Shu.

• missing [´misiŋ] a.缺掉的；失踪的 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• director [di´rektə] n.指导者；....长；导演 (初中英语单词)
• relief [ri´li:f] n.救济；援救；减轻 (初中英语单词)
• headquarters [´hed,kwɔ:təz] n.总部(署)，司令部 (初中英语单词)
• rescue [´reskju:] vt.&n.救援；挽救 (初中英语单词)
• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• discharge [dis´tʃɑ:dʒ] vt.&n.卸货；释放；解雇 (初中英语单词)
• threaten [´θretn] v.恐吓；有....的危险 (初中英语单词)
• severe [si´viə] a.严厉的；苛刻的 (初中英语单词)
• senior [´si:niə] a.年长的 n.前辈 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• deputy [´depjuti] n.代理人；代表 (高中英语单词)
• breach [bri:tʃ] n.&v.破坏；违犯 (高中英语单词)
• drought [draut] n.旱灾；干旱 (英语四级单词)
• yangtze [´jæŋtsi:] n.长江 (英语四级单词)
• swollen [´swəulən] swell的过去分词 (英语四级单词)
• reservoir [´rezəvwɑ:] n.水库；蓄水池 (英语四级单词)
• affected [ə´fektid] a.做作的；假装的 (英语六级单词)
• downstream [,daun´stri:m] a.&ad.下流的，顺流的 (英语六级单词)