Rainstorms hit half million people in southwest China's Sichuan

CHENGDU, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Heavy rainstorms have hit southwest China's Sichuan Province, affecting more than half a million people over the past few days, local authorities said Sunday.

Torrential rain that hit the province since Friday affected 589,400 people to different degrees until 10 a.m. Sunday, causing waterlogging in cities, inundating farms and fields and cutting off parts of roads.

The extreme weather has led to the evacuation of nearly 110,000 people in seven cities in the province, causing a direct economic loss of 1.77 billion yuan (about 274 million U.S. dollars).

No deaths or missing people have been reported.

The cities of Dazhou and Guang'an in the province have activated the highest alert for flood prevention, as the flood peak at a local river is forecast to arrive late Sunday and early Monday morning.