Heavy rainstorm that swept through the Enshi Prefecture of central China's Hubei Province since Friday has left at least eight people dead, two missing and about 785,000 affected.

Tan Yunju, a woman in Wanzhai Township, Xuan'en County, was killed by lightening. Hu Chengbo, a primary school pupil in Lichuan City, was washed away by mountain floods. Two passers-by were killed by a collapsed wall in Badong County.

Huang Changcui, a woman in Toudaoshui village, Enshi City, was buried by a collapsed house and died later when all rescue efforts failed. Three children, aged between 4 and 6, were killed by a landslide in the same village.

Rescuers are searching for the two missing in Tianba village, Lichuan City, after a truck fell into a river on Saturday morning as a result of heavy rain.

As of 6:00 AM on Sunday, 785,000 residents in the prefecture, an autonomous region inhabited by Tujia and Miao ethnic people, were affected by rainstorms. The local government relocated 14,255 people living in low-lying areas.

The rainstorms also damaged 32,039 hectares of cropland, toppled down 874 houses and damaged another 2,240, resulting in direct economic losses of 245 million yuan (US$35.7 million).

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2008)