![In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a man paddles with an inflatable boat past submerged cars during a flood in Rongshui County in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Saturday, July 11, 2020. Vice Minister of Emergency Management Zheng Guoguang told reporters Monday, July 13, 2020 that the Yangtze River and parts of its watershed have seen the second highest rainfall since 1961 over the past six months. (Long Linzhi/Xinhua via AP)]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"80","h":"53","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB16ENt9.img?h=533&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1758&y=961"},"size3column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"42","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB16ENt9.img?h=416&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1758&y=961"},"size2column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"42","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB16ENt9.img?h=416&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1758&y=961"}})
Vice Minister of Emergency Management Zheng Guoguang told reporters Monday, July 13, 2020 that the Yangtze River and parts of its watershed have seen the second highest rainfall since 1961 over the past six months. (Long Linzhi/Xinhua via AP)Around 28,000 homes have been damaged and 141 people have died or are missing in the floods since last month.
Virtually all of mainland China has been affected, excluding vast far western areas such as Tibet and Xinjiang, according to Vice Minister of Emergency Management Zheng Guoguang.
The Yangtze, Asia’s longest river, and parts of its watershed have seen the second highest rainfall since 1961 over the past six months, Zheng told reporters.
Damage has been estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars, adding to pressure on an economy deeply impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, including virus-related shutdowns and the loss of overseas markets.
Hubei province, through which the Yangtze flows and famed for its numerous lakes and rivers, is under particular threat. The province’s capital Wuhan was the epicenter of China’s virus outbreak, which appears to have largely been contained.
![In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese paramilitary policemen form a line to move sandbags to reinforce a dyke along the banks of Poyang Lake in Poyang County in eastern China's Jiangxi Province, Sunday, July 12, 2020. Vice Minister of Emergency Management Zheng Guoguang told reporters Monday, July 13, 2020 that the Yangtze River and parts of its watershed have seen the second highest rainfall since 1961 over the past six months. (Cao Xianxun/Xinhua via AP)]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"80","h":"53","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB16ESt1.img?h=533&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1443&y=637"},"size3column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"42","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB16ESt1.img?h=416&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1443&y=637"},"size2column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"42","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB16ESt1.img?h=416&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1443&y=637"}})
Flooding in some areas last week forced the rescheduling of portions of the crucial four-day national college entrance exams that had already been delayed for a month because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Key tourist destinations in China’s south have sustained flood damage that is compounding financial stress caused by the massive drop-off in numbers of visitors
