China issues highest alert for mountain torrents

BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Water Resources and the China Meteorological Administration on Saturday jointly issued a red alert for possible mountain torrents in parts of south China.

From 8 p.m. Saturday to 8 p.m. Sunday, some regions in the western parts of Guangdong Province and the northeastern part of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region will be highly prone to mountain torrent disasters, according to the alert.

An orange alert was issued for parts of the two provincial-level regions, which are also likely to see mountain floods.

Local authorities were advised to strengthen real-time monitoring and flood warnings and brace for evacuation of local residents.

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