Thousands flee Jiangxi floods

A rescuer escorts a sleeping 10-day-old infant to safety on Tuesday in Xiaba, a village in Guizhou province that has been left submerged by consecutive heavy downpours. [Photo by Ke Youchuan/Asianewsphoto]

In neighboring Guizhou province, rescuers saved more than 150 residents who were stranded after their villages were flooded in Yanhe county. More than 1,500 people were relocated, local media reported.

In Haozhang county, a landslide triggered by the rainfall hit a session of highway linking Bijie and Weining in the province, according to the provincial civil affairs authority.

The National Meteorological Center on Tuesday continued a yellow alert for heavy rain in South China for the next 24 hours. China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

According to the State forecaster, rainstorms are expected across a vast region along the Yangtze River, including the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui and Hubei.

Some parts of Jiangsu and Anhui will see up to 15 centimeters of rain within 24 hours.

Heavy rain is also expected in Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan and Chongqing in the southwest and in Heilongjiang in the northeast, according to the forecaster.

Floods triggered by heavy rain have left 22 people dead and 15 others missing in South China since Saturday, according to the authority.

Feng Zhiwei in Changsha, Yang Jun in Guiyang and Liu Kun in Wuhan contributed to this story.