Rainstorms lash more Chinese provinces

BEIJING, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Torrential rain has battered several provinces in China, with local authorities launching emergency responses for disaster prevention.

From 8 a.m. on Sunday to 8 a.m. on Monday, the southeast of central China's Hubei Province, the Jianghan Plain, and the southern northeast of Hubei experienced heavy rain, the office of the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said Monday.

Affected by recent strong rainfall, the water level of 611 reservoirs in Hubei exceeded the flood limit level as of 8 a.m. on Monday. Currently, all of them have released floodwaters normally.

Hubei activated a Level IV emergency response for flood control on June 17. China has a four-tier flood-control emergency response system, with Level I being the most severe.

The office is supervising and advising local authorities in areas with concentrated rainfall to do their best to brace for disasters such as floods, flash floods, landslides, mud-rock flows, and urban and rural waterlogging.

From Sunday to Monday, seven observation stations in five counties and districts in southwest China's Guizhou Province saw excessive rain, with the precipitation in Pingba District reaching 312.4 mm, according to the provincial meteorological bureau. In addition, 30 counties and districts in Guizhou have experienced heavy rain.

The bureau raised its emergency response for meteorological disasters from Level IV to Level III on Sunday afternoon.