Rainstorms lash south China, affecting 1 mln

Rainstorms have lashed large swathes of south and central China since the weekend, affecting more than a million and leaving at least 15 dead and seven missing.

An orchard is flooded in Wutong Town of Guilin, a tourist resort in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, May 20, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

In Hunan Province, heavy rain since Tuesday has killed two people and affected over 130,000. The two were from Jianghua Yao Autonomous County, where a gas station was buried by a landslide. Around 2,000 people have been relocated, according to the local civil affairs authorities.

In Jiangxi Province, storms since Monday have affected 450,000 people, displacing 65,000 of them, said the provincial civil affairs department.

Eight people died and 1,655 houses collapsed, it said, adding the direct economic losses had reached 450 million yuan (73 million U.S. dollars). The rain also caused the biggest flood in the history of the Meichuan River in Jiangxi.

Downpours caused blackouts for 220,000 households in Ganzhou City, Jiangxi. The power supply had resumed for half of them as of Wednesday afternoon.

In Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, heavy rain left five dead and six missing. About 200,000 people were affected, according to the region's civil affairs authorities.

The stormy weather was forecast to continue on Wednesday and Thursday in Guangxi.

The rainstorms also swept Fujian, Guangdong provinces in the east and the southwestern Guizhou province.

In Fujian, 17,000 people were evacuated. Qingli counties in Sanming City reported precipitation 338 mm between 7 a.m. Monday and 7 a.m. Wednesday. Towns were inundated with water as deep as 2.2 meters. Power was cut in some townships.

Thunderstorms canceled more than 360 inbound and outbound flights at the Guangzhou Baiyun Airport and more than 230 flights at the Shenzhen airport in Guangdong Province on Wednesday.