Deaths from floods, lightning and landslides across China this summer have reached nearly 700, state media said on Monday, with experts warning that global warming is likely to fuel more violent weather. Over the weekend alone, fierce storms and hail killed 17 people across four provinces. Ten died in the central province of Hubei, where rain and hail have added to swollen waters along the country's longest river, the Yangtze, and its main tributary, the Han. In the northwestern province of Shaanxi, five died in floods that cut off roads around Shangluo, Xinhua news agency said. A hail storm on Saturday hit parts of the eastern province Anhui, where millions of residents have been grappling with the threat of the swollen Huai River for the past month, killing one person and injuring three, Xinhua said. Flood waters on the Huai have begun to retreat, but many thousands of people remained stationed along its embankments to prevent breaches, it added. One person died in a lightning strike in weekend storms in the flood-battered southwestern province of Sichuan, Xinhua said.
