483,000 Shanxi residents affected by rainstorms  

山西遭遇暴雨倾城 已有48万人受灾

山西7月31日遭遇暴雨袭击，该省气象部门在当日凌晨发布暴雨红色预警。据山西省民政厅统计，连日来的强降雨已造成吕梁、运城等地48.3万人受灾、7人死亡、3人失踪。

Taiyuan (CNS) -- Shanxi Province was hit by rainstorms that began on July 26 and continued to fall heavily, affecting 483,000 residents and leaving seven dead and three missing, according to the local Bureau of Civil Affairs.

Some 123,000 residents were evacuated to a safe zone during the emergency, while 4,100 houses collapsed. Farmers face 642,500 hectares of soaked crops, of which 10,300 hectares will see no harvest. The direct economic loss is calculated at 1.46 billion yuan.

The rainstorm pummeled the provincial capital of Taiyuan from midnight July 30 and forty road sections became impassable at 1:20 am on July 31, according to the local authority, which dispatched 45 rescue vehicles.

The local meteorological center issued a red alert for a rainstorm at 4:22 am, July 31, covering cities in the weather downstream: Jinchen, Yucheng, Changzhi and Linfen.