At least 18 killed and 4 missing following heavy rains in southern China

Heavy storms that swept through several southern Chinese provinces this past week killed 18 people and left four more missing.The storms have dumped more than 20 centimeters (nearly 8 inches) of rainfall in 48 hours on some towns, toppled thousands of homes, and dislocated tens of thousands of residents, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said yesterday.The deaths were caused by house collapses, landslides, drowning or lightning.

From Saturday to Sunday, [a] storm will hit the south and west regions, affecting the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian as well as the Tibet Autonomous Region

National Meteorological Center of China

The local civil affairs agency said 664,000 people were affected in Hubei province. In the neighboring province of Hunan, the storms affected 527,000 people. The National Meteorological Center (NMC) has issued a blue alert for heavy rain in south and west China on Saturday, the first day of the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday.

Asia-Pacific