Fierce hailstorms and floods have left one person dead, about
27,000 people affected and more than 90,000 hectares of crops
destroyed in parts of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local
authorities said Wednesday.
The storms hit Yining County, Xibe Autonomous County of Qapqal,
Nilka County, Gongliu County and Kuytun City, all in the Kazak
Autonomous Prefecture of Ili on Sunday and Monday, triggering
direct economic losses of more than 64 million yuan (US$8 million),
most in agriculture, a spokesman with the Ili prefecture government
said.
More than 2,700 houses were damaged or destroyed and150 head of
livestock were killed, the spokesman said.
In Yining, which suffered most, the biggest hailstones measured
four centimeters in diameter and left a layer up to 15 centimeters
thick on the ground within 15 minutes, the spokesman said.
The local government is carrying out relief work in these areas
by providing farmers with new seed or telling them to plant other
crops in a bid to reduce the impact, he said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2007)