Torrential rains have wrecked China's southern regions over the past weekend, causing five dead and two missing, the national flood and drought prevention office said here Sunday. The Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said that landslides caused two dead and other two missing in province of Hunan, and three dead in Guizhou after heavy rain hit provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan and Guizhou over the weekend. Rainstorms have affected some 695,000 residents and 48,047 hectares of farmland in the three provinces, causing a direct economic loss of 537 million yuan (82.24 million U.S. dollars), Xinhua quoted the office as saying. The downpour also caused some rivers in these provinces to swell and reach above warning levels, said the office. The office said it sent three working teams on Sunday to these regions to assist with local flood-relief efforts, as weather authorities forecast that a new round of storm will hit these regions in the next two days.
