Govt warns of more floods as storms hit

Central and southern China were on high alert for more flash floods yesterday as the annual East Asia monsoon gathered pace and extreme rainfall threatened disruption in the world’s second-largest economy.

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Red alerts, the first for this year, were issued late on Thursday covering the provinces of Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi region, state news agency Xinhua reported, citing the water resources ministry and national weather forecaster.

Extreme rainfall and severe flooding, which meteorologists link to climate change, increasingly pose major challenges for policymakers as they threaten to overwhelm ageing flood defences, displace millions and wreak havoc on China's $2.8 trillion agricultural sector.