The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Beijing

Torrential rains that killed 28 people in southern China were forecast Wednesday to continue for the next three days.

Eighteen people have died in flooding in southern Guizhou province since Sunday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported late Tuesday. Twelve were missing.

More than 500,000 people in 17 cities and counties in Guizhou were affected, the news agency said. About 6,700 houses were damaged since rains started to fall.

Meanwhile, three people were killed by thunder and lightning after a storm in central Hubei province, the report said. It did not say when they died.

Seven people were also killed in weather-related incidents in Hunan province Monday, Xinhua said, and heavy precipitation in Jiangxi province, bordering Hunan to the east, stranded 4,000 people.

Torrential rains were forecast for the next three days in central and eastern China, the China Meteorological Administration said in a notice on its Web site on Wednesday.