Downpours in China Kill 51, Displace 67,000

BEIJING — Torrential rains and severe flooding across southern China have killed at least 51 people, driven tens of thousands from their homes and swamped huge swaths of farmland, officials and state media said today.

Rising waters have forced 67,000 people from their homes in 96 towns around Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, the official China Daily newspaper reported.

At least 160,000 acres of farmland were inundated, the newspaper said. Hangzhou is southwest of Shanghai and about 700 miles southeast of Beijing. The hilly area is densely populated, and centuries of over-farming have depleted the ability of hillsides to capture rainfall, leading to frequent disastrous flooding during rainy seasons.

Floods also have ravaged southeastern China’s Anhui and Guizhou provinces.