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Rainstorms lash Chongqing: 360,000 affected

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-08-04 10:42

Severe rain which has been battering Chongqing municipality since Sunday has killed one person and affected 28 towns and 360,000 people as of 21:30 Monday, cqnews.net, a local news website reported Monday. Two people reported missing have still not been found.

Related readings:  Heaviest rain in 70 years floods 3,000 Shanghai households  Heavy rain hits SW Sichuan; 22 dead, 7 missing  Rain pours new misery on Sichuan  100,000 evacuated after bomb threat in Chongqing  15 hikers killed in Chongqing's flash flood

The damage from the rainstorm – in which the highest rainfall reached 193.3mm, causing several flash floods - has cost a direct economic loss estimated at 180 million yuan (US$ 26 million).

The Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project, was closed Monday as it braced for the biggest flood crest this summer, according to Xinhua News.

Water entered the Three Gorges Reservoir at 41,000 cubic meters per second as heavy rain hit the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, including Chongqing.