S China downpours affect 2.48m people

BEIJING - A total of 2.48 million people have been affected by downpours that have swept South China since Monday, the country's flood control authority said Thursday.

Torrential rains have caused damage in seven provincial regions, including Hunan, Guizhou, Jiangxi and Anhui, according to preliminary calculations by the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

In Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region alone, the death toll from week-long rainstorms has risen to 10, while another person remained missing, local authorities said Wednesday.

Heavy rains have also severely damaged 148,000 hectares of crops and left 2,590 houses collapsed in South China, the headquarters said.

The rains triggered flooding on six small- and medium-sized rivers in the provincial areas of Hunan, Guangxi, Anhui and Guangdong, and brought the water level near alert lines in Taihu Lake, China's second-largest freshwater lake, it said.