Northern China hit by severe rains and flooding
Last week, China's northern province of Shanxi was swept over by heavy rainfall, which was followed by a series of destructive floods.
The Shanxi province is a major coal-producing area, making up 25% of China's coal production. Due to the floods, the authorities had to stop operations at local coal mines and chemical factories. This worsens the situation even more since China is already facing an energy shortage which has caused power cuts, depriving ports and factories of electricity.
This is not the first time this year that the country has been struck by a natural disaster. Over 300 people died after another fierce rainfall in Zhengzhou (central China) this July, sinking entire neighbourhoods, as well as leaving passengers trapped in subway cars.
Some scientists offer climate change as an explanation behind what happened and claim that it is the reason floods keep getting worse and more damaging.
