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Heavy downpours to hit east, south China: forecast

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-06 17:01

BEIJING - China's top meteorological authority said in a Monday forecast that heavy rains will lash parts of East and South China over the next three days.

Parts of western Zhejiang province and northeastern Jiangxi province will experience torrential rains from June 6 to 8, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said in a statement on its website.

It also said light to medium rains will fall in China's Southwest and Northeast, adding that heavy rains will hit southern Guizhou province and the northern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

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Local authorities in Guizhou and other provinces in South China should take precautions against possible mountain floods and other disasters caused by heavy rains, the CMA cited experts as saying in a separate statement.

The statement said that eastern and southern Guizhou, central Hunan, southeastern Hubei and western and northern Zhejiang already received 100 to 200 mm of rain between June 4 and 6.

Parts of central Hunan and Jiangxi received 230 to 250 mm during the same period, the statement said.

The CMA expects 80 to 100 mm of rainfall on Monday and Tuesday in these same provinces, the statement said. However, these rains will cease before June 8, according to the statement.

CMA head Zheng Guoguang warned that continuous rainfalls may trigger flooding in some areas in central and south China, where a severe drought has dried up several lakes and rivers.

He asked local authorities in regions along the lower and middle reaches of the Yangtze River to prepare for possible floods while continuing their work to relieve the effects of the drought.