China Is Hit By The Worst Floods When It Revives The Economy Amid COVID-19 To Be A Big Obstacle

Photo illustration (Kelly Sikkema / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Weeks of torrential rains have caused China's worst floods in decades. The floods destroyed the homes and livelihoods of millions of people. To make matters worse, the country is struggling to revive an economy that has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Launching CNN, Tuesday, July 14, since June, devastating floods have affected 38 million people in China. About 2.24 million residents have been displaced, with 141 people dead or missing, the Ministry of Emergency Management reported.

Chinese authorities raised the country's flood alerts to the second highest level in a four-tier emergency response system. Chinese President Xi Jinping described flood control as "very grim" and called for stronger and more effective measures to protect lives.

The COVID-19 pandemic and weeks of cessation of activities in many regions of China are a historic blow to the country's economy. The country pledged to pour 3.6 trillion yuan on its economy this year in tax cuts, infrastructure projects and other stimulus measures as part of a bid to create nine million jobs and blunt the impact of the pandemic.

Unfortunately, flooding tends to complicate recovery efforts. Some of the areas affected by the floods were also the areas worst hit by COVID-19. While flooding is common in China due to seasonal rains and flooding this year is the worst. Floods have hit 27 of mainland China's 31 provinces and in some places, water levels have reached dangerous heights since 1998, when massive floods killed more than three thousand people.

The floods have also destroyed 8.72 million hectares of agricultural land, destroyed 28,000 homes, and in some cases submerged entire cities. According to the state news agency Xinhua, the floods also caused 82.23 billion yuan in economic losses nationwide.

In central China's Hubei Province, which accounts for more than 80 percent of China's COVID-19 cases, high levels of rainfall have led to widespread flooding and landslides. More than 9 million people have been affected in the province of 60 million people, causing an economic loss of 11.12 billion yuan.

The floods are unlikely to recede as heavier rains are expected in the coming days. China's Meteorological Agency has issued warnings for heavy rain from Tuesday July 14 to Saturday July 18 in several provinces in the country, including Sichuan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.