At least 70 killed, aid for flood victims boosted

GUANGZHOU - Severe [si?vi?](嚴(yán)重的) rainstorms(暴雨) that have killed at least 70 people since Wednesday are expected to continue in the southern and central parts of the country, with strong winds and hailstorms(冰雹) in some areas, meteorological(氣象的) authorities have said.

Inclement [?n?klem?nt](惡劣的) weather in the next two days will affect Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces as well as the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous [?:?t?n?m?s](自治的) region, the China Meteorological Administrationforecast [?f?:-kɑ:st](預(yù)測(cè))on Sunday.

On Sunday, authorities sounded a yellow-level alert [??l?:t](警報(bào)), two levels lower than the highest red alert, to warn of storms continuing in Guangdong, Hunan, Fujian, and Jiangxi provinces until Monday.

Torrential [t?:?ren??l, t?-](持續(xù)的)rain, gale(大風(fēng)) and hail are also expected to hit the areas, the administration said.

Many affected areas, such as Yunnan and Guizhou, had just emerged(出現(xiàn)) from the worst drought [draut](干旱) in decades.