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China to enhance weather monitoring amid rainstorm

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-22 15:12

BEIJING  -- China's weather forecasters were urged to enhance weather monitoring and provide more accurate forecast as southern parts of the country were hit by rainstorm worst in a century.

The current weather prediction was not accurate enough to help disaster control and there were still problems with short-term weather forecast, Zheng Guoguang, director of China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said at a tele-conference on Saturday.

He asked all meteorological departments to intensify weather monitoring against extreme weather, especially in the major disaster-prone regions, and improve the forecast accuracy.

Continuous downpours have lashed 12 southern provincial-level regions since June 7, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and Jiangxi. Some of these regions were hit by heaviest rainfall recorded over a century.

Rainstorm-triggered floods have caused heavy losses of life and property. According to the latest statistics, the death toll had risen to 176 as of Wednesday, with 52 still missing.