Chinese scientists blame the floods on global warming.
Flooding since May has killed around 1,800 people and affected more than half of China's population of 1.1 billion, across central, eastern and northern China. Exceptional rainstorms fall in eastern China throughout June and into July. The Yangtse River overflows its banks in many places and threatens Shanghai and Nanjing. The floods result in over 1,300 deaths and some 10 million homeless people. At one stage 20 percent of the croplands of China are estimated to be under water.