21 killed as heavy rains drench China

HONG KONG:

Torrential rain continued across southern and central China on Tuesday with at least 21 people killed in widespread flooding that also closed schools and businesses, and disrupted transport and power supplies, authorities said.

China's weather agency said areas of Jiangxi, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan faced a high risk of rain-related disasters, including landslides, flash floods and severe urban flooding and waterlogging.

Authorities said they have allocated 150 million yuan ($22.04 million) for disaster relief and launched emergency responses in several affected areas.

Many residents in Jingzhou, a city in central Hubei, were knee-deep in water and able to catch fish swimming in the streets, according to images posted on Chinese video platform Douyin. Some cars were nearly completely submerged on roads surrounded by residential and commercial buildings.

Ten people were confirmed dead after a pickup truck carrying 15 farm workers fell into a flooded river in China's southwestern region of Guangxi amid heavy rain, state broadcaster CCTV reported. In separate incidents, heavy rain and flooding killed four people in southwestern Guizhou province, four others in southern Hunan province, and three in a low-lying village in central Hubei province, CCTV said. A number of people remain missing.

Schools, businesses and transport services have been suspended, and authorities are relocating residents in some parts of Hubei and Hunan, state media reported. Reuters