El Nino brings dire warnings of floods

Flood control authorities issued alerts for more than 40 rivers in southern China as weather forecasters warned of more heavy rainstorms likely to bring floods in coming days.

"The amount of rain in the area will be far above the same period in previous years," the China Meteorological Administration, the State forecaster, said in a news release on Tuesday.

Torrential rains in South China have so far resulted in the flooding of small and medium-sized rivers in six areas, including Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, according to Yang Kun, a news officer at the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.