BEIJING: In China's main grain-producing region in the northeast, days of torrential rain have resulted in severe flooding that has killed 14 people and raised questions about food security as floodwaters flooded farmlands, CNN reported. Since late July, typhoon Doksuri's aftermath has pounded northern China, more than a million people to flee their homes and killing at least 30 people in the Hebei province and Beijing's suburbs.
Another 14 fatalities were recorded on Sunday in the city of Shulan in the province of Jilin as the storm advanced further north.
Three local officials, including the deputy mayor of the city, were among the deceased after being swept away by floodwater during last week's rescue efforts, according to a statement from Shulan authorities. It noted that there was still a missing official, according to CNN. Authorities in the city of Wuchang, another important rice-producing metropolis in Heilongjiang, are still calculating the damage after numerous villages and substantial tracts of farmland were also inundated there. As extreme weather events linked to climate change pose growing dangers to China's agricultural and food resources, concerns about the possible effects on food security in the second-largest economy in the world have increased, according to CNN.
The three northeastern most provinces, Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning, are referred to as China's granaries since they produce more than one-fifth of the nation's grain production due to the area's fertile black soil. The main crops grown there are rice, maize and soybeans.