Hundreds of villagers trapped by S China flood

Photo taken on Aug. 19, 2013 shows the flooded Caichang Village in Xiangzhou County of Laibin City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Eleven townships in Xiangzhou County were hit by rain-triggered floods on Monday, leaving more than 2,500 people stranded. (Xinhua/Liao Caixing)

Hundreds of villagers in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were trapped by a flood on Monday after a reservoir discharged water amid severe downpours, local authorities said.

Police and fire-fighting personnel used inflatable rafts to reach the trapped villagers in the city of Guiping. Some residents were seen up trees and inside flooded houses, according to the rescuers.

The Jintian Reservoir released a large amount of water on Monday morning after a powerful rainstorm began on Sunday. The medium-sized reservoir had been under pressure for a week due to rain brought by Typhoon Utor, said the region's flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The headquarters said they had not received any reports of casualties.

Utor, the 11th and strongest typhoon this year, has wreaked havoc in Guangxi as well as in provinces of Guangdong and Hunan.

In Guangdong, 20 people were killed and another seven remained missing, according to the Guangdong Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, while nine people were reported dead in mudslides in Lanshan County in Hunan.

Severe rainstorms have ravaged several parts of China since last week. In northeastern Liaoning Province, rain-triggered floods left 54 people dead and 97 others missing, according to the latest reports.