Heavy rainstorms hit Guangdong

As the annual rainy season sets in, cities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have been drenched, leaving roads flooded and schools closed.

The downpour flooded low-lying areas of the cities including Qingyuan, blocking roads and trapping residents. The city has issued a red alert, the most severe warning in China's four-tier weather warning system.

Neighboring Zhaoqing City was also deluged, with traffic being heavily disrupted.

Beijiang River in the Pearl River basin experienced its second flood of the year on Saturday evening due to heavy rainfall in recent days, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

At 8.45 pm, the water flow at Shijiao hydrological station in Qingyuan rose to 12,000 cubic meters per second, reaching the flood standard of the ministry.

The ministry maintained the level-IV emergency response for flood control, and urged local authorities to implement anti-flood measures.

The first flood of the Beijiang River in the Pearl River basin this year occured on April 7, the earliest since floods in major Chinese rivers began being numbered in 1998.

(Staff reporter, CGTN and China Daily)