China rains: Thousands stranded after record downpour

At least five people have been killed and thousands more have been left stranded after record rainfall hit southern China, officials say.

Hundreds of homes and thousands of hectares of crops have been destroyed by the downpours, which are expected to continue for several days.

More than two million people have been affected and roads and bridges have been badly damaged, state media report.

In Guizhou province, an entire town was submerged under 2m (6ft 6in) of water.

Elsewhere, China's metrological association said rainfall in the southern provinces of Jiangxi and Hunan had hit record highs for June.

Police officers evacuated trapped people from flooded areas

People wade through a flooded street in southern China

In Jiangxi province alone, 150,000 people were relocated after nine cities were swamped by deep floodwaters.

More than 20,000 homes in the south-west region of Guangxi are without power, the state-run China Daily newspaper reports.

Hundreds of homes were destroyed by the torrential rain

Streets were submerged by floodwater in Guilin in China's southern Guangxi region

Some people waded through the deep floodwaters

Rainstorms are expected to spread to a number of areas including Guangdong and Sichuan by Thursday, the metrological administration said.

It also warned local authorities to be on alert for dangerous mudslides caused by the flooding.

Neighbouring Taiwan is also bracing for heavy rain, Taiwan News reports.

Torrential rain has triggered mudslides in southern China in the past. In 2014, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces were hit by large mudslides that caused damage to houses, roads and vast areas of farmland.