Heavy downpours have wreaked havoc across southern China since the weekend, with school classes canceled, a hospital closed, flights stopped and major city streets flooded.
In Ziyuan county under the administration of Guilin city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, rescuers were still busy searching for four people who went missing when the county was hit by heavy rains that caused landslides and flooded local highways and streets.
In the cities of Nanning, Jingxi and Hechi, and Luocheng county, the heavy downpours flooded many urban streets and damaged vehicles.
Some towns in Luocheng county were blocked off from major cities after sections of highways were flooded by the heavy downpours on Monday.
In Jingxi city, one hospital had to stop operating when its first floor was flooded; and kindergarten, primary and high schools suspended classes for a half day due to the bad weather.
Local governments of the flood-hit cities on Monday issued a red alert, the highest, urging government departments and local residents to take measures to tackle the flooding and avoid casualties and minimize economic losses.
In Guangdong province, primary and high school classes were suspended on Monday because of the heavy downpours and flooding in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Taishan, Zhongshan and Jiangmen.
In Zhuhai, firefighters were deployed in rubber dinghies and even large plastic wash basins to help evacuate elderly people and children living in the low-lying areas. Some of the streets were under water as deep as 150 centimeters, local authorities said.
Eighteen flights scheduled to depart and land at Zhuhai airport had to be canceled on Monday, with many passengers stranded in the airport.
All the ferry services linking Zhuhai to major islands also had to be canceled.
"Many streets were flooded while pedestrians were seen being soaked through when the heaviest downpour was hitting the city," said Zhang Honggang, a Zhuhai office worker.
Eight Guangdong cities raised the weather alert to red on Monday.
Guangdong Meteorological Observatory has warned that the southern province will be struck by heavy downpours again on Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to the National Meteorological Center, the provinces of Jiangxi, Fujian and Anhui have also been hit by heavy rainfall since the weekend.
