Deaths and destruction as floods ravage southern China

<p>Rainstorms and floods battered southern China killing some 78 people since the start of June, according to the Chinese emergency management ministry. </p> <p>Another 12 million have been affected by property damage, road closures and other disruptions, including 720,000 people rescued or relocated from flood waters. </p> <p>The flood season has caused $3.6 billion in economic losses, the ministry said, a further blow to a domestic economy already suffering from the coronavirus pandemic.</p> <p>Seasonal flooding hits much of China each year, and authorities have sought to mitigate the damage through the use of dams, particularly the massive Three Gorges structure on the Yangtze.</p> <p>China’s worst floods in recent years were in 1998, when more than 2,000 people died and almost 3 million homes were destroyed.</p>