Rain, rain not going away yet for much of nation

Heavy rainfall will continue in North China until Wednesday, with downpours sweeping areas near the Yellow River and the Huaihe River, according to China National Meteorological Observatory.

The national observatory renewed a blue alert on Monday morning, warning that heavy rain is expected to hit parts of 14 provinces, regions and municipalities nationwide, including Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hebei, Liaoning, Yunnan and Hainan provinces; Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous regions; and Beijing and Chongqing.

Among the areas, north and west parts of the Sichuan Basin will be hit by up to 130 mm of rainfall within 24 hours, it said.

China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red representing the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

On Sunday, downpours occurred in North China, the Sichuan Basin, southeastern Shandong, eastern and northern Zhejiang and southeastern Jiangsu provinces, while Yangsong, an area of Beijing's Huairou district, had the maximum precipitation of the capital city－237 mm.

The Beijing observatory issued a yellow alert for torrential rain on Monday morning, warning that accumulative precipitation in Huairou, Miyun, Shunyi, Chaoyang and Changping districts could exceed 100 mm. The observatory also estimated that rainstorms might cause disasters like floods, mountain torrents and geological hazards in mountainous areas of the city. Ponding might occur in some low-lying areas, it added.

At around 5 pm on Monday, the observatory issued a release saying that some areas of the capital would experience light to moderate rain accompanied by thunder and lightning on Monday night. A few areas in the city were forecast to experience heavy rain.

Over the past few days, heavy rain resulted in floods in some parts of China. Continuous rainfall in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province since late July, for example, has affected 760,000 people in 90 cities and counties.

In Leshan, Sichuan province, thunderstorms from Friday night to Saturday morning affected at least 100,000 residents, leaving four people missing. Disaster relief efforts are underway.

On the other hand, the frequent rainfall has brought cool air to ease the summer heat. Over the next few days, North and Northeast China, as well as areas near the Yellow River and the Huaihe River, will experience more comfortable weather with high temperatures of around 30 C.

In cities like Beijing, Shijiazhuang in Hebei province, Shenyang in Liaoning province and Changchun in Jilin province, people will not suffer from obvious summer heat. However, as thunderstorms will still occur from time to time, people in these cities are advised to be cautious when they are outside.