AP reports on the floods in Foshan, the third major natural disaster to hit China this year:
The floods killed 57 people, collapsed tens of thousands of homes, damaged crops across more than 2.12 million acres and causing more than an estimated $1.5 billion in economic losses.
Banana trees were almost swallowed up by the muddy chocolate brown waters of the Xijiang River that overflowed its banks in Foshan, a city in prosperous Guangdong province. Farmers ditched their plows and waded into the neck-high waters with nets to catch fish.
The Beijiang River, which converges with the Xijiang in Foshan, swallowed a neighborhood that had been home to about 100 people. “The water came in fast. It started rising yesterday morning, and by noon our homes were swamped,” said a man who gave his name as Mr. Huang, standing on a dike staring at his inundated home across the Beijiang river.
