Heavy rainfall is causing massive flooding and mudslides across southern China. At least 86 people are reported dead. More rain is expected in the coming days.
Days of torrential rains across southern China have triggered massive flooding and mudslides. Chinese state-run media report at least 86 deaths, with eight million others affected.
More downpours are expected in the region in the next few days. Weather experts have warned that China might see the worst flooding in decades this year.
Heavy rain began to hit the region on May 5, affecting 10 provinces in the south. Since then, 16 people have gone missing and 275,000 others have been evacuated.
Rainstorms also caused rivers to swell and dikes to burst. The heavy waters damaged highways, bridges and power facilities in the area, and threatened reservoirs.
This footage from Hunan Province shows hundreds of farmers using hoes to clean up a waterway clogged by mud and rocks brought by floodwater.
In Guangzhou, mudslides buried apartment buildings and destroyed houses. At least two people died in the region.
Authorities say the extreme weather has caused direct economic losses of almost 860 million U.S. dollars.
Only a month ago, several of the same provinces were suffering from the worst drought in a century to hit southwest China.
The country's flood season, which usually begins early May and continues through the summer months, is notoriously deadly.
