BEIJING - China suffered direct economic losses of 308.29 billion yuan (S$58.8 billion) over the first nine months of 2023 from natural disasters such as torrential rain, deadly landslides, freakish hailstorms and a string of typhoons, the government said.

The Emergency Management Ministry unveiled on Sunday the unprecedented toll wrought on the nation of 1.4 billion by calamities that ranged from sandstorms to rain that brought massive flooding and historic rainfall in Beijing, the capital.

Officials said 499 people were reported dead and missing in natural disasters during the nine-month period, with more than 89 million affected, while more than 2.75 million had to be evacuated and resettled.

Four typhoons during the period caused heavy losses, with the most recent back-to-back events bringing flash flooding and hundreds of landslides in southern areas, while the north and north-east suffered record rain and evacuations. Natural disasters that occurred in the north and north-east regions were the most severe disasters compared with the same period in the past five years, the Global Times reported.

China’s crops of rice, soya beans and corn were also battered, triggering larger inflation worries at a time when the government is battling to stabilise the economy.

Crops across 9.71 million hectares were affected in the nine-month period, the government said.

Excessive heat forced a struggle with dramatic weather swings that some experts blamed on climate change. REUTERS