Heavy rains to sweep country this week

The National Meteorological Center issued a blue alert on Sunday for heavy rain, which was expected to sweep over a vast portion of China from Sunday to Wednesday and could bring geological disasters. The center predicted that the heaviest rainfall would come on Sunday and Monday.

China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Heavy rain is expected to hit southern, southwestern and northwestern regions, including the provinces of Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Guizhou, Guangdong and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Some areas in Guangdong, Hunan and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will have an accumulated rainfall of 150 to 220 millimeters from Saturday night to Tuesday, with a maximum hourly precipitation of 60 mm.

The center said the heavy rain could bring geological disasters. Some areas in Shaanxi, Guangdong and Guangxi will have a high risk of mountain torrents and floods in small and medium-sized rivers.

Chen Tao, a chief forecaster at the center, said the large precipitation in the previous months has already loosened soil, which poses a threat to the safety of those areas, and the new round of rain will only make things worse.

According to the China Meteorological Administration, the national average precipitation in April was 41.2 mm, up 3.9 percent year-on-year. Three bouts of heavy rain occurred last month and about 1.88 million people were affected by floods, incurring economic losses of nearly 400 million yuan ($59.4 million).

"To prevent disasters, local authorities should check spots with potential hazards, step up monitoring of weather conditions and be ready for evacuation," Chen said.

Meanwhile, the center advised local authorities to guard against possible flooding, landslides and mudslides, and to halt outdoor operations.

Heavy rain will also be accompanied by thunderstorms, strong winds and hail in some of the affected regions.

Affected by cold air, strong northerly winds will hit the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and temperatures will drop by 4 to 8 C. Blowing sand or fine dust will affect western Inner Mongolia and eastern and southern areas of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Xinhua contributed to this story.