Heavy rains were forecast for most parts of rain-drenched south China over upcoming 10 days, and some regions would probably hit by torrential rains, strong gales and thunderstorms, China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said on Sunday.

Precipitation in most of southwest China's provinces, including Guizhou, Sichuan and Yunan, would be 30 percent to 70 percent more than that of last year's same period, the CMA said.

Downpours would raise river levels even higher, inundate many regions along the Pearl River and cause a major flood at the Xijiang River, the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters warned.

The level of Xijiang River, the western tributary of Pearl River flowing through Guizhou, Guangxi and Guangdong, had surpassed the alert levels in many sections. It was 4.89 meters above the warning level in the Wuzhou monitoring site at 1:00 PM on Saturday, according to the headquarters.

The rainstorm-triggered floods had forced more than 1.27 million people to flee their home, with 55 people dead and seven missing in nine provinces including Hubei, Guangdong and Guizhou as of 9:00 PM on Saturday.

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2008)