China renews blue alert for rainstorms

BEIJING -- China's national weather observatory on Thursday renewed a blue alert for rainstorms as a cold front and Typhoon Krosa threaten to bring heavy downpours to the country's northeast.

From Thursday to Friday, torrential rain will hit some areas in the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, the National Meteorological Center said in a statement on its website.

Rainfall in some of those regions is expected to reach up to 120 mm within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the center maintained a yellow alert for high temperatures in the provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, as well as Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Temperatures in these areas may reach up to 39 C.

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