Beijing - XINHUA
China's meteorological authorities said on Saturday that heavy rainfall will hit the south of the country, especially the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, in the next three days. Rain will fall in areas including Chongqing, Hubei, Anhui, Zhejiang, and Qinghai and Tibet Autonomous Region, with some parts seeing downpours of up to 55mm, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) forecast. The country's northern regions will see scattered rainfall. Gansu and Shaanxi provinces will experience rain of over 10 mm and the area east of the lower reaches of the Yellow River can expect weak precipitation. Zhang Tao, the NMC's chief forecaster, warned of landslides and debris flow triggered by the continuous rainfall in areas along the Huaihe River and middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and cautioned that rain will stunt crop growth.