Heavy rain affects over 3 mln in east China's Anhui

Heavy rain has disrupted the lives of more than 3.06 million people in east China's Anhui Province, local authorities said on Friday.

The downpours, which started on July 2, affected 11 cities and 65 county-level administrations in the province, leading to the evacuation of 585,100 people and a direct economic loss of nearly 12.15 billion yuan (about 1.74 billion U.S. dollars), as of 11 a.m. on Friday, the provincial disaster-reduction and relief committee office said.

The rain also damaged 307,520 hectares of crops.

The provincial department of emergency management has allocated 40,853 items of disaster-relief materials in 12 batches to the disaster-affected areas.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Emergency Management sent 20,000 items of disaster-relief equipment, including folding beds, blankets and quilts, to Anhui on Friday, after distributing 12,000 items of relief supplies to the province on July 9.

Anhui raised its emergency response for disaster relief from Level III to Level II on Tuesday, starting from 10 p.m., as the water level in the main course of the Yangtze River in the province exceeded the warning mark, according to the provincial disaster-reduction and relief committee office.