China braces for flooding in southern regions

BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- China has launched all-out flood relief efforts in its southern regions, including the Jiangxi and Fujian provinces, where the water levels of 22 rivers have risen above alert marks due to heavy rains since Friday.

The Ministry of Water Resources has sent working groups to regions impacted by flooding, including the worst-hit province of Jiangxi.

By 4:30 p.m. Monday, heavy downpours had affected 536,000 people in the province, causing 16,000 people to be relocated and direct economic losses of 670 million yuan (about 96.7 million U.S. dollars), according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

Rainfall has now stopped, and Jiangxi dropped its level-four emergency response for flood control at 8 p.m. Monday.

More heavy rains are forecast in parts of southern China from Wednesday to Saturday, posing flood risks in rivers in Guangxi and Guangdong, the ministry said.

It said it will ramp up forecasts, early warnings and contingency planning to guard against further flooding.