Heavy rain wrecks havoc in south China

CHONGQING - Intense downpours and hailstorms have caused havoc across several Chinese provinces, resulting in casualties, disrupted traffic and inundation.

In addition to a fatal tornado and hail storm, which claimed 98 lives in east China's Jiangsu Province on Thursday, many urban areas in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality are reporting flooding.

A section of a rail track linking Chongqing with Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, was also flooded. Railway authorities have diverted 10 trains as repair work is underway.

In the rural district of Yongchuan, downpours damaged 602 houses, resulting in one death and another missing. Rain on Thursday night flooded a section of the outer wall of Yuxi Prison forcing the relocation of 1,400 inmates over night. The prison authority has reinforced security and ensured provisions.

Zhutuo Hydro Station on the Yangtze, which runs through Chongqing, warned that the water level had risen by 1.91 meters in one day.

In east China's Jiangxi, workers on Friday morning repaired a 64-meter breach in a dike in Poyang County.

Aided with some 100 pieces of heavy machinery, more than 2,000 workers have worked around-the-clock, for 46 hours, to mend the breach.

In the county, two reservoirs sustained damage, 189 river bank breaches were found, and 26,000 houses were either inundated or damaged.