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Heavy rains trigger flood alert in S.China

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-24 16:47

GUANGZHOU - Officials issued a flood alert for southern China on Sunday as storms hit the already soggy region with torrential rains that were expected to last for days. The storms triggered a landslide, killing two people, state-run media said.

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The rains drenched the southern Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong province, one of the country's biggest manufacturing areas, the provincial Meteorological Society said on its Web site.

The hardest-hit cities included Zhuhai, Dongguan and Shenzhen, next to Hong Kong, it said.

People clutching umbrellas stood on the banks of the Pearl River in the provincial capital of Guangzhou, watching the water rise rapidly in the river that flows through the prosperous city.

Landslides have been common in the flood-prone region. Mudslides in Xingning city in northeast Guangdong buried two houses on Saturday, killing two people, the Xinhua News Agency reported - the first casualties of the rainy period.

The heaviest rainfall was recorded in southern Guangdong's Taishan city, where about 17 inches (430 millimeters) of rain fell Saturday, the Meteorological Society said. The rains were expected to continue on Monday and Tuesday, and it urged local governments to be on alert for severe flooding.