New round of hailstorms affect 838,000 people

 　　BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- A rew round of hails and storms hitting central and south China on Friday had killed one and affected¹ some 838,000 people as of 8:p.m. Saturday, according to the Ministry² of Civil Affairs.

　　Figures released late Saturday by the ministry show that 42 cities and counties in the municipality of Chongqing and the provinces of Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan and Guizhou have been ravaged³ by the extreme weather, leaving at least 150,000 people in urgent need of resettlement and basic living aids.

　　The storm has toppled more than 1,000 houses and damaged another 138,000 ones in the above-mentioned areas. It also damaged 43,200 hectares of crops, of which 6,800 hectares were destroyed.

　　The direct economic loss caused by the weather was currently estimated at 590 million yuan (94 million U.S. dollars).

　　Local authorities in Hunan revealed earlier that three people died during hailstorms between Tuesday and Friday, and a strong hailstorm on Wednesday resulted in nine deaths in a city in south China's Guangdong Province.

1 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

2 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。