Heavy rains, floods cause nearly $1.5 billion in losses

A Chinese official said that heavy rains and floods have struck 20 provinces including Guangxi, Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong, causing about $1.4 billion in direct economic losses so far this year, Xinhua reported. Ye Jianchun, China's vice minister of water resources, said that the disasters damaged 623,000 hectares of crops and destroyed 15,000 houses.

Read more.