About 50,000 affected by heavy rains in China's Guangxi

NANNING -- As of 5 pm Thursday, about 50,000 residents of South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region have been affected by floods caused by extensive heavy rains that began on May 8, the regional emergency management department said.

During the period, rainfall affected a total crop area of over 3,800 hectares, caused 19 households to collapse and severely damaged 34 households.

On Thursday alone, downpours lashed the eastern area of Guangxi and some of its coastal areas, while some parts even suffered from thunderstorms and strong winds. Some areas logged 150 to 250 mm of precipitation with the maximum hourly rainfall reaching 60 to 90 mm.

Starting from 6 pm on Thursday, the regional meteorological authorities raised its emergency response level for rainstorms to level IV and warned local residents to watch out for possible landslides and other geological disasters.

China has a four-tier disaster relief emergency response system, with Level I being the most severe.