6 killed in heavy rains in China

Six people have died in heavy rains which have battered southern and eastern China over the past five days displacing over 6,000 residents and destroying crops, officials said today.
Continuous strong rain started to hit the central province of Hunan on Monday killing six people, the Hunan provincial flood prevention and drought control headquarters said.
As of today, rainstorms have affected about 850,000 people, toppled more than 2,200 homes and forced 14,000 citizens to relocate in Hunan, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Heavy rainfall has also led to the flooding of major reservoirs and rivers.
Rainstorms have affected about 196,800 people in east China's Jiangxi Province, local authorities said today.

The heavy rain, which started from Tuesday, has battered 26 counties in Jiangxi, the provincial flood prevention and drought control headquarters said.

Local governments have relocated 6,019 residents to avoid potential risks.
The downpours have also damaged or destroyed 202 houses and ruined 16,710 hectares of crops, as well as causing high water levels of rivers and lakes, and several landslides.
Flood prevention authorities in Jiangxi warned of floods on Thursday due to the rising rivers and lakes.
The headquarters also ordered several reservoirs in the province to release water as levels had gone over or were approaching danger mark because of the heavy rain.