CHENGDU, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Strong rain has affected more than 508,000 people in southwest China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, local authorities said Wednesday.
The downpours have been battering most parts of Sichuan since Monday evening, leaving two people missing, according to the provincial flood control headquarters.
The heavy rain has destroyed about 300 homes and resulted in excessive waters levels on several major rivers.
Local government authorities have relocated about 36,800 people due to the possibility of geological disasters triggered by the rain.
Three bridges have collapsed since Monday evening due to rain-triggered floods in the cities of Jiangyou and Deyang, the headquarters said.
Twelve people have been reported missing and six vehicles were confirmed to have fallen into a river in Jiangyou after the Panjiang Bridge collapsed, according to the local government.
Train services on the Baoji-Chengdu Railway, a key north-south railway line in west China that links the city of Baoji in northwest China's Shaanxi Province with Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, were resumed on Wednesday, according to the Chengdu Railway Bureau.
Torrential rain has also pounded Wenchuan County, the epicenter of an earthquake that left 87,000 people dead or missing on May 12, 2008.
The Dujiangyan-Wenchuan Expressway and a section of the No. 213 National Highway that links Wenchuan and Dujiangyan have been severely damaged by flooding, according to local traffic police. It is not yet known when traffic will be resumed.
Yinxing Township in Wenchuan has become nearly isolated, as the rainstorms have cut off the town's water and power supplies, communication and traffic, traffic police said.
In neighboring Yunnan Province, rainstorms have affected over 28,600 people and toppled over 5,280 houses. Local authorities have suspended classes in rural schools in the area.
Four people from two villages in Yunnan's Suijiang County have died in rain-triggered floods, local authorities said, adding that the county's water supplies have also been cut off.
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