Rainstorms ravage central and southern China

Watch Video>>

The nation is bracing for additional bouts of extreme weather. Over the last few days rainstorms have wreaked havoc in the provinces of Guizhou, Anhui, Hubei and Hunan. Heavy rains have dramatically affected transport and agriculture.

A Chinese man pushes his bicycle in deep rainwater on a flooded  street in Wuhan, capital city of central China's Hubei Province,  June 30, 2009. The city has been hit by seasonal summer rainfalls for days.(Xinhua/Zhou Chao)

In total, torrential rain has stricken 46 cities and counties in central China's Hubei province. The provincial headquarters for flood control has declared a level four emergency response. Nearly 40 thousand people have been affected with water rising above the alert level at 95 reservoirs.

Central China's Hunan province has also been hit by heavy rains with the Hunan Metrological Bureau issuing a red storm warning.

In Anhui province, rainfall in the city of Chizhou has reached 140 millimeters. The Chizhou observatory has also issued a red storm warning. Also in the province, a national oil reserve depot was hit by the torrential rains. Over 100 soldiers and working staff spent 7 hours draining the water that soaked the campus.

The headquarters for flood control in the country's south-western Guizhou province says two people have died and another person is missing as a result of the heavy rains. Meanwhile, a total of 1,140 people in Guizhou have been evacuated from their homes, while hundreds of houses collapsed and crops on over 110,000 hectares have been damaged. Direct economic losses from the rains in the province have exceeded about 70 million yuan.