Fifteen people have died and three are missing due to torrential rains and flooding in Shanxi province, the provincial government said on Tuesday.

The heavy downpour was caused by the unusual climatic conditions in the Yellow River basin. Neighboring Shaanxi province, too, has experienced the heaviest rainfall since 1961.

The accumulated rain water in the downstream reaches of the Yellow River basin since late August is two to five times the normal volume at this time of the year.

The central leadership is paying close attention to the situation. Weeks ago, the ecological protection and high-quality development outline of the Yellow River basin, jointly issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, China's Cabinet, said flooding remains the biggest threat to people living in the Yellow River basin.

The situation has worsened this year because of extreme weather events. Usually, the Yellow River is flooded only in summer, but this year the flooding has continued till the fall.

To cope with the flooding, the authorities need to make concerted flood control efforts both on the regional and national levels.

For example, the whole Yellow River basin needs more high-quality development and better livelihoods for the people, so the environment and ecology there are better protected and the impact of extreme weather events on people's lives is minimal.

With better economic development, the local governments can also spend bigger amounts on environmental protection including on planting trees to prevent land erosion.

In Shanxi, specifically, more attention needs to be paid to information-sharing. Since the majority of its flooded areas are in the countryside, they do not get the attention they deserve.

It is also time to make disaster-relief operations more transparent, in order to enhance the province's ability to cope with natural disasters.