At least 55 killed in southern China rainstorms

Heavy rainstorms continue to lash southern China, killing at least 55 people, and causing secondary disasters in provinces like Guangdong and Guangxi.

Guangxi civil affairs officials say nearly 200,000 people have been affected by the continuous rainstorms in recent days, and 12,000 have been relocated. The sweeping storms have also impacted more than 1.36 million people in Guangdong province and caused an economic loss totalling 2.6 billion yuan.

Power supplies have been cut off in the central city of Qingyuan and northeastern city of Meizhou. Repair operations are now in full swing.

China's National Meteorological Center issued a yellow alert for rainstorms on Monday. Regions in south China's Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi provinces will be swept by rainstorms of up to 100 millimetres within 24 hours.