Backgrounder: China's top 10 adverse weather events in 2007

BEIJING, Jan. 11. (Xinhua) -- Chinese meteorological officials and experts convened on Friday in Beijing to plan this year's meteorological work, expecting more meteorological bureaus alerts and calling for improved weather service amidst the country's intensified battle against adverse weather.

Following are the country's top 10 worst weather events in 2007announced by the China Meteorological Administration.

Hurricane-strength winds of up to 41.8 meters per second blew 11 carriages of a train off its tracks in China's far northwestern region of Xinjiang on Feb. 28. Four people were killed and more than 30 were injured. The train was traveling from the regional capital, Urumqi, to the city of Aksu.

Typhoon Sepat landed in southeast China's Fujian province on Aug. 19 packing winds of up to 33 meters per second. The storm brought floods and landslides to seven provinces, including Hunan, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, affecting 11.4 million people. Forty-eight were killed and caused damage worth 8.32 billion yuan (1.14 billion U.S. dollars).

Torrential rain caused water levels on the Huaihe River in east China's Anhui province to rise above warning levels for 26 days. A total of 29.2 million people were affected in the provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu and Henan. The flooding led to 35 deaths and economic losses of 15.6 billion yuan.

The national average temperature in the first 11 months hit a 56-year high of 11.4 centigrade degrees. The figure was 1.2 degrees higher than the same period in 2005 and represented the 11th consecutive annual rise.

Lightning strikes killed 676 people in China in 2007. Thunderstorms affected 3.59 million people and killed 41 in east China's Jiangxi province during June 22-25. The storms inflicted economic losses of 820 million yuan on the province.

The heaviest blizzard in 56 years hit north China during March 2-5. The snowstorm killed 17 people and caused economic losses of 12.86 billion yuan in Liaoning and Shandong. The biggest waves in 38 years set off by the storm battered Bohai bay and the northern coastal areas of the Shandong peninsula.

Severe droughts affected 1.52 million hectares of cropland in south China in July and August, leaving 242,000 hectares without harvest at all. About 3.72 million people suffered drinking water shortages in the provinces of Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Guangxi. The droughts caused damage estimated at five billion yuan.

China's southeastern coast braced for the worst on Oct. 7 as the deadly Typhoon Krosa, bringing winds of 33 meters per second, wreaked havoc in the densely populated region. A total of 1.5 million people were evacuated before the typhoon landed. Zhejiang Province alone suffered losses worth 8.9 billion yuan.

Major Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Urumqi, were frequently hit by rainstorms in the summer. Fifty-five people were killed in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing and 46 in Shandong province.

A severe autumn drought, said to be one of the worst in the last 50 years, lingered in south China from September through the end of November for lack of rain. The national average rainfall for November reached its lowest level since 1989. The water level dropped to 35 percent of its normal level in China's largest freshwater lake Poyang.