Two people have been killed and two others are missing after a new round of rainstorms in south China. As of 10 a.m. on Tuesday, one person had been killed and two were missing after downpours swept 59 counties in the southwestern Guizhou Province, Xinhua quoted the provincial flood control headquarters as saying. Nearly 400 houses had collapsed. The heaviest precipitation was 200.5 mm in Tongzhi County from 8 a.m. on Monday to 8 a.m. Tuesday. Water in the local Tongzhi river rose to 1.14 meters above warning levels. The storms affected 156,000 people and caused direct economic losses of 120 million yuan. According to forecasts, the rain will continue until Tuesday night in Guizhou. Rainstorms also hit nine cities in the central Hunan Province, said the provincial flood control authorities. A 61-year-old man died after a landslide flattened his house on Monday in Xinhua County. The downpours sparked the evacuation of 20,000 people and the collapse of 1,305 houses in Hunan. Rescue and relief work is under way. At least 37 people died and six others were left missing after the previous round of downpours hit provinces in south China in May, according to the China National Commission for Disaster Reduction.
