China allocates relief supplies to flood-hit Hubei province

BEIJING -- China has allocated emergency supplies to Hubei province in support of local flood control and disaster relief work, the Ministry of Emergency Management said in a statement Saturday.

Flood relief supplies worth 13.33 million yuan ($1.87 million) were allocated to Hubei by the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, and the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration.

The relief supplies include woven bags, rubber boats, dewatering pumps and electric generators, according to the MEM statement.

The Hubei provincial flood control and drought relief office raised the emergency response to floods from Level IV to Level III at 4 pm Friday.

Heavy rainstorms since June 21 have disrupted the lives of 417,100 residents in 28 county-level areas in Hubei. Supplies for disaster relief have been urgently allocated to the relevant flood-hit places, according to the provincial emergency management department.

On Saturday, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters sent two more work teams to Jiangxi and Hunan to help local flood prevention efforts, while work teams dispatched to Heilongjiang, Jiangxi, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan and Zhejiang will continue their work there, the MEM said in a separate update.