Chongqing alerts adjusted following downpour

The alert for geological disasters in Chongqing's Wanzhou district, the municipality's most severely affected district in the latest round of torrential rains early this week, was brought down from a red alert (first issued on Tuesday) to an orange alert — the second highest in the warning system, according to a notice issued on Thursday afternoon from the Chongqing Planning and Natural Resources Bureau and the Chongqing Meteorological Bureau.

China has a four-tier, color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

The notice said, from 8 pm on Thursday to 8 pm on Friday, the risk of geological disaster in Wanzhou and the city's Yunyang county was rated Level II, an orange alert, followed by a yellow alert for Wushan, Wuxi, Fengjie, Zhongxian, and Shizhu counties.

Multiple parts of Chongqing, including Chengkou county and Kaizhou and Liangping districts, were rated a blue alert for geological disasters.

On Monday and Tuesday, heavy downpours hit Wanzhou, a district within the mega-city of 34 million people on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The torrential rains and the flood they triggered have left 17 people dead and two others missing in the district, Xinhua News Agency said, adding that the lives of more than 130,000 people in 19 districts and counties of Chongqing had been disrupted and over 7,500 hectares of crops damaged.

The Chongqing Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau issued a reminder that affected districts and counties should strengthen precautions to avoid geological hazards.