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WUHAN, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Rain in the Yangtze River basin has left 161 dead with 61 people unaccounted for since China entered the flood season in March.
The basin has been through 27 rounds of strong rainfall since March this year, with precipitation nearly 20 percent more than average, said Chen Min, an official with the Yangtze River flood control headquarters, at a press conference.
The casualties have been caused mostly by collapsing houses and floods.
The rain led to two flood peaks on July 1 and 3, pushing water levels beyond alert levels.
A total of 10 provinces and municipality have been hit by floods, which have damaged 4.17 million hectares of crops. Total damage amounts to an estimated 103 billion yuan (about 15 billion U.S. dollars). Over 60 percent of the damage occurred between June 30 to July 10, according to Chen.
As of Monday, 2.9 million people living in the basin have been evacuated and 870,000 people have been rescued.
More rain will hit on Wednesday, mostly in the lower reaches, where 4 million people are involved in the fight against floods, including 100,000 soldiers.
