The heaviest rainstorm in half a century hit a county in southwest China from Sunday evening and has continued, local meteorologists said on Monday.

The storm, which began to sweep Chengkou County, Chongqing Municipality at 8:00 PM on Sunday, was the heaviest since the beginning of the county's meteorological records in 1958, the Chongqing Meteorological Station said.

Five townships were drenched. Shuanghe Town received 136 mm of rain from 2:00 AM to 10:00 AM on Monday, said the meteorological office, adding that Zhouxi Town had rainfall of 87.5 mm.

Half of the county's roads linking to 24 towns were cut off.

The storm continued as of 11:00 AM in most parts of the county, but weakened. The number of casualties were unclear as the county government was still assessing losses.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2009)