China's National Meteorological Center has issued a blue alert for the provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, Yunnan and Hebei, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as well as Beijing and Tianjin. In some western areas, like Gansu, Shaanxi, and Sichuan, they warn that the rain may be accompanied by thunder and hailstones in places.
However, as this is happening, there are also some areas of China which are crying out for any kind of precipitation.
Inner Mongolia is the third largest among China's provinces and regions -- and an important grain producing area of the country's northern part. But with nearly no rain in parts of its west and central areas, for over two months, over 70 percent of the farmland in the region has been affected.
And, to compound matters, a locust plague has hit over 1.3 million hectares of pasture there, causing millions of dollars worth of damage, and it's farmers who have been the worst affected.
But, in its neighboring Shaanxi province, heavy rainstorms have triggered landslides and flooding.
Yulin, a city in the north of the province, was hit by its heaviest rainfall in 30 years. Some footage, by the villagers in Zizhou county, showed two people being washed away from the top of a building. One of them perished.
Stories like this are being told throughout China, in both urban and rural areas, with farmland being particularly affected.
The city of Tongchuan, again in Shaanxi, was hit by three hailstorms, in as many hours yesterday. Farmers could do nothing as their crops were destroyed.
And there is little relief in sight.
Rainstorms are expected to last for the next few days. Authorities are saying they are doing everything they can to minimize their impact.
