Rain triggers south China landslide, flight delays

Rain and hailstorms since Saturday have brought landslides and flight delays to southern China.

In Guangdong province, authorities confirmed that 11 people had been killed, while three remained missing as of 5:00 p.m. on Monday.

Heavy rain has grounded flights and stranded passengers at major airports in Guangdong since Sunday. More than 300 flights were canceled at the Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport over the past two days, and thousands of travellers were stranded. Some anxious and impatient travellers vented their anger in airport offices or stopped other passengers from boarding, airport authorities confirmed, adding that order has been restored.

Schools in Shenzhen suspended classes on Monday when the local weather department warned of severe thunderstorms.

In Ziyuan County, Guangxi, rescuers continue to search for a mine worker buried by a landslide on Sunday. Two giant rocks crashed down on a road on Sunday and as mine workers cleared the roads, a landslide occurred. One miner was injured and another is still missing.

According to the Civil Affairs Department of Guangxi, hailstorms have left two dead and more than 3,000 hectares of crops destroyed.

On Monday morning, the China Central Meteorological Station maintained a blue rain alert for the region, down from red the previous day. China has a four-tier rainstorm alert system, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

The storms that have swept swathes of south China recently had caused 16 deaths, and left two people missing as of 09:00 a.m on Monday, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA). By 5 p.m. the death toll had risen to 21.

Over 830,000 people have been affected by the disaster, according to the MCA website.