[Clearwisdom.net] Anhui Commerce Daily reports: In the evening on July 23, 2001, a severe rainstorm struck Suzhou city in Anhui Province, resulting in over 80 million Yuan RMB (about US $9.6 million) in direct economic losses.

It was learned that from 8 PM on July 23 to 1 AM the next day, a severe storm with gusty wind raided Suzhou city and a short-lived hailstorm assaulted some small areas at the same time. The gusty wind reached force 9 (on the Beaufort scale). The largest precipitation rainfall was 73 mm (almost 3 inches). Over 20 local government offices in villages, towns or street corners were hit by the disaster. Due to the strong wind, power supply and communication lines were down, and residents' houses and factory buildings collapsed or suffered damage, resulting in severe economic loss.

Based on preliminary estimates, 875,000 Mu [a Chinese unit of land measurement, equivalent to 0.165 acres] of crops were affected and 208,000 Mu of crops were damaged. More than 657,500 people were hit by the disaster. Seventy-two people were wounded. Six hundred houses collapsed, and among them, 510 were residential homes. Two hundred and eight houses were damaged. Direct economic losses were 81.23 million Yuan, including 41.2 million Yuan of direct economic loss in agriculture.

The rare severe rainstorm caused heavy losses to Suzhou City and its surrounding areas.

"When people do not have virtue, natural calamities and man-made disasters will abound. When the earth does not have virtue, everything will wither and fall. When heaven deviates from the Dao, the ground will crack, the sky will collapse, and the whole universe will be empty." (from Teacher Li's article, "When the Fa is right").