China marks rainy Dragon Boat Festival

A dragon boat team works hard in an annual contest in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. More than 10 teams from several cities in Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macao participated in the competition. (Photo: Wu Jun / China Daily)

Intense rain and floods continued to soak central and southern China on Monday, the traditional Dragon Boat Festival usually celebrated with boat races on river.

Torrential downpours hit provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday, though rainstorms showed signs of subsiding in other southern regions, according to the National Meteorological Center (NMC).

Starting late May, heavy rain has unleashed floods and collapsed houses in south China, leaving at least 43 people dead or missing.

In central China's Hunan province, rainstorms inundated streets and caused traffic gridlock in several cities and towns, including the tourist town of Fenghuang, while landslides were reported in rural areas, damaging river dikes and roads.

The provincial flood control and drought relief headquarter of Hunan said the rain-triggered floods had toppled 859 rooms and affected 585,000 local residents, while forcing evacuation of 15,500 people.

A flash flood also submerged a bridge leading to a scenic mountain in southwestern Sichuan province at midnight Monday, trapping 147 tourists until 5 p.m.. No casualty has been reported.

The NMC forecasts that strong rain will continue to batter many parts of south China in the next three days and warned of rain-triggered disasters, such as floods, landslides and mud flows in these regions.