300 people evacuated in central China flood

Three hundred students and teachers from two schools in central China's Hubei Province were evacuated after being trapped for two hours by rainstorm-triggered floods, a local government said Thursday. Students and staff at the Guangcai Primary School and Gaoqiao Kindergarten in Xuan'en County became trapped in their schools on Thursday due to heavy rain. Firefighters, officials and villagers rescued the trapped people within two hours, the county government said. Rainstorms swept Hubei on Wednesday and Thursday. Eight cities or counties reported precipitation of more than 100 mm, with a maximum of 161 mm in Hefeng County, according to a meteorological station in Wuhan, the provincial capital. Some 414,000 people were affected by the weather, which caused direct economic losses of 150 million yuan (about 24.3 million U.S. dollars), according to provincial flood control authorities. The rain also hit southwest China's Guizhou Province, with Hezhang County receiving maximum precipitation of 169.5 mm, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters. One person was killed in a house collapse that occurred in Hezhang. Thirty-six houses in four counties or cities collapsed in the storm. The heavy rain in Guizhou will continue until Sunday night.