9 killed, 3 missing in central China heavy rains

Torrential rains have swept across central China's Hunan province over the past few days, killing nine people and affecting 1.1 million, local authorities said Tuesday.

The provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said, the rainstorms in Hunan, which started Saturday, have left nine people dead, three missing and forced 54,000 to evacuate.

A preliminary investigation shows that about 1.1 million people in 291 townships had been affected and 89,900 hectares of farmland damaged by the rains.

The main tributaries of the Yangtze River, the largest river in China, and the 10 major reservoirs in the province have seen water levels rise above the warning levels, the headquarters said.

The central government has sent several teams to rain-hit provinces to help them carry out relief work, as torrential rains have also slammed Jiangxi and Guizhou provinces.

Rainstorms have affected more than 220,000 people in Guizhou and nearly 300,000 in Jiangxi. They also contributed to five deaths in Guizhou.

Train services have also been affected.

Two passenger trains scheduled from the southwestern city of Kunming to the eastern city of Jinan on Tuesday and the central China city of Wuhan on Wednesday have been canceled. Several other trains traveling through the saturated central part of the country have been delayed, according to Kunming railways bureau.