Gales and hail, which lasted for three hours and a half on Friday morning, affected 374,000 people in 12 counties, damaging 17,100 hectares of farmland, causing the collapse of 796 houses and incurring 44.5 million yuan (5.9 million US dollars) in economic losses.

The fourth flood crest arrived at Wangjiaba, a key hydrological station of Huaihe River that flows through Anhui, Friday afternoon, pushing the water level up to 28.04 meters.

A total of 27,000 people in three towns of Anhui alongside the swollen Huaihe were moved to safety on Friday. Some lived in the houses of their relatives and friends, others dwelled in 1,400 tents.

The water level of the Yangtze River in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, is currently at its highest so far this year. The water level was measured at 25.19 meters on Friday morning, still two meters lower than the warning line. Tourists gathered on Friday evening to watch the torrential floods.

The dykes and embankments in Wuhan had been reinforced after the devastating floods of 1998, when the water level of Yangtze exceeded 28 meters. The project involved more than five billion yuan (661 million US dollars) in investment between 1998 and 2002.

Unexpected strong wind, thunderstorm and hail pounded the city for nearly half an hour as of 8 p.m. Friday, leaving a large part of the urban area in blackout for hours. Traffic was paralyzed as the traffic lights were off.

A passenger surnamed Zhang said his glasses dropped to the ground hit by the hail, with the size of a table tennis ball, and he felt that the taxi he was riding was shaking in the storm.

All technicians with the municipal power supply company are busy fixing the damaged equipment and electricity wires.

In the southwestern province of Guizhou, four people were killed and two others remain missing after downpours hit the region. The rain has affected almost one million people, forcing more than 110,000 to evacuate by Friday morning.

Sichuan Province is expected to experience more rain in the coming two days, which would help alleviate drought but could also trigger landslides, according to the local meteorological bureau.

Local flood-control departments are monitoring river and flooding situations round-the-clock although the water level is still below the danger line.

In Hunan Province, continuous rain over the past week and floods have left one people dead and caused the evacuation of 123,000 people.

In northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 32 people have been confirmed dead over the past 11 days and three remain missing.

A downpour pelted Ili Valley for about 20 hours as of Thursday afternoon, affecting more than 4,100 people and pulling down some 200 houses, incurring five million yuan (660,500 US dollars) in economic loses.

Moreover, rescuers were struggling to rescue 61 herdsmen and 13,000 heads of livestock that had been stranded for nearly four days in a mountainous area in northwestern Xinjiang after a landslide cut off their path on Monday. The unexpected landslide engulfed 4,580 head of livestock. The stranded herdsmen had enough food for about 10 days.

The local government has spent 80,000 yuan (over 10,500 US dollars) on the rescue work. The mountainous area, about 400 km northwest of Urumqi, has been closed off.

More rain, hail, thunder and lightning are estimated to pelt many areas of Xinjiang in the next three days. Local meteorological authorities have warned people of possible natural disasters following the rain.

Several regions in central, west and east China have been suffering from heavy rain, flooding and ensuing natural disasters over the past two weeks, while the south of the country is experiencing a heat wave.