5 killed in S China heavy rain

NANNING - Five people were killed in a rain-triggered building collapse in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region over the weekend, the regional civil affairs department said on Monday.

As of 4:30 pm on Monday, more than 24,000 people have been affected as torrential rains have battered the region since Saturday, the department said.

It explained that four people were killed and two others injured when their residential building in Longwang village, Du'an county, collapsed while another person living in the village of Gaofeng, in Bobai county, also died in a housing collapse.

A total of 55 houses have been toppled and about 350 hectares of cropland have been damaged as a result of the rain.

In neighboring Hunan Province, 300,000 people from 109 towns have been affected by the latest round of rainstorms over the past four days and 2,280 people have been relocated, the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said on Monday.

More than 600 houses and 27,200 hectares of cropland have been damaged in the storm, the headquarters said.

The province is expected to see more rain from Tuesday evening, according to the provincial observatory.