6 killed, 4 missing in heavy rains in China

At least six people have been killed while four remained missing as rainstorms continued to wreak havoc in China's eastern Fujian province, forcing around 1,71,800 to evacuate to safety.
Continuous downpours that started on Sunday battered the western and central parts of Fujian, affecting 4,20,000 people and forcing 1,71,800 to evacuate, the provincial flood prevention and drought control office said in a statement.
Yunxiao county in the city of Zhangzhou received 404 mm of rain from 8 am to 2 pm on Sunday. Yesterday, maximum precipitation reported in all the 21 rainstorm-hit counties, it said.
But Liancheng county in the city of Longyan suffered the most. Heavy rains swelled rivers and flooded the county seat, where flood water was more than 2 metres deep for seven hours yesterday.

The rainstorm cut off traffic, power and water supplies and telecommunication services, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Rain-triggered floods have toppled 11,000 homes and damaged 26,220 hectares of cropland across the province, it said.

At least 16 km of embankments and 345 sluices and hydropower stations were destroyed. The direct economic losses were estimated at 4.2 billion yuan.
The rainstorm subsided at 5 pm, the provincial meteorological bureau said.
Meanwhile, continuous rainstorms have affected 3,60,700 people in 14 counties, districts and cities in central China's Hubei province since Wednesday, the provincial civil affairs department said.
As of 2 pm yesterday, about 36,950 hectares of cropland had been damaged and 145 houses had collapsed, resulting in direct economic losses of 67.79 million yuan (USD 10.9 million), it said.

The provincial capital Wuhan was inundated yesterday, with maximum precipitation exceeding 100 mm in the downtown areas.
In central China's Hunan province, more than 9,000 people have been relocated since a rainstorm that started on Wednesday.
Torrential rain also hit the southern province of Guangdong, affecting 288,700 people in five cities and forcing 11,400 to evacuate.
Even the drought-hit Yunnan province in the southwest suffered downpour over the past 24 hours. The provincial weather bureau said heavy rain would continue until tomorrow.