Rainstorms wreak havoc in China

BEIJING - Nearly a million people have been affected by heavy rain pelting several Chinese provinces, causing houses to collapse, decimating crops and blocking highways.

Continuous storms have affected 360,700 people from 14 counties, districts and cities in Central China's Hubei Province since Wednesday, the provincial civil affairs department said.

As of 2 pm on Thursday, about 36,950 hectares of cropland have been damaged and 145 houses have collapsed, resulting in direct economic losses of 67.79 million yuan ($10.9 mln), the department said.

Wuhan City, capital of Hubei, was inundated on Thursday. The maximum precipitation in downtown Wuhan surpassed 100 mm, the city's flood control and drought relief headquarters said.

The Wuhan meteorological department on Thursday issued a red alert for rainstorms. The city's public transport has also been disrupted. The meteorological department warned that Wuhan will see more heavy rain from Thursday night to Friday.

The Hubei Provincial Government has allocated a relief fund of 138 million yuan to help the affected people.

In central China's Hunan Province, more than 9,000 people have been relocated since a rainstorm started on Wednesday, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The heavy rain, surpassing 250 mm in precipitation in certain places, has affected 361,000 residents and damaged 19,800 hectares of farmland, the headquarters said.

Four people died and another five are missing after downpours hit Liancheng County in eastern Fujian Province early on Wednesday morning, inundating streets and cutting off power supply.

Longyan City, which administers Liancheng, reported 3,200 collapsed houses. More than 323,000 people were affected, with 136,200 of them evacuated.

Torrential rain has also hit the southern province of Guangdong, affecting 233,200 people and forcing the evacuation of over 6,200.

Direct economic losses in the province have reached 122 million yuan, the province's emergency response office said.