More rain forecast for southern China

The strong rains in past days have started to dwindle in southern China on Wednesday, but a new round of rain is on the way and will affect parts of southern China from Friday, according to the National Meteorological Center.

The new weather system will be weaker than the previous one between Sunday and Wednesday, but secondary disasters such as mudslides may happen in the overlapping areas in Guangxi, Guizhou, Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

On Friday, moderate to heavy rains will batter the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, north-central Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, southern Sichuan and southeastern Tibet. Heavy downpours may happen in some places.

On Saturday, rains will continue and extend to southern Anhui, north-central Jiangxi and eastern Qinghai.

The past strong rains have affected millions of residents in South China, with thousands resettled.

In Hunan province, floods have affected 1.23 million individuals, causing 16 people to die or go missing, and direct losses have reached 1.69 billion yuan ($245.5 million) by 5 pm on Tuesday, local authorities said.

Days of heavy rainfall have swollen rivers in many parts of Hunan. On Tuesday morning, a river broke through levees in Hengdong county, inundating three villages.