China cities declare rain 'red alerts' amid power cuts, floods

SHANGHAI - Five cities in the central Chinese province of Hubei have declared "red alerts" after torrential rain caused power cuts and destroyed homes, forcing the evacuation of nearly 6,000 people, state media reported.

Rescue crews have been dispatched to the worst affected areas, with include the cities of Suizhou, Xiangyang and Xiaogan, China's Ministry of Emergency Management said. The city of Yicheng also saw a record 400 millimetres of rain on Thursday. According to the official China News Service, as many as 774 reservoirs in Hubei had exceeded their flood warning levels by Thursday evening.