Southern China braces for more rain, Chongqing landslide search continues

(Corrects to say cumulative rainfall in places in eastern, not northern and eastern, Guangxi in 5th bullet)

BEIJING, July 19 (Reuters) – The Chinese meteorological authority on Sunday issued a heavy rain alert for parts of southern China and a geological disaster warning for areas including parts of Chongqing, where 34 people remain missing more than two days after a rain-triggered landslide.

• Cutting south China diagonally, the sprawling rain belt stretches from the southwestern province of Yunnan to the Yangtze River Delta on China’s eastern coast.

• Rail authorities suspended some passenger trains on the Shanghai–Kunming railway on Sunday due to heavy rain, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

• In Yunnan, several scenic spots including the Tiger Leaping Gorge were temporarily closed following heavy rain over the weekend.

• Parts of the Guangxi region in southern China, still recovering from the impact of Typhoon Maysak earlier this month, are bracing for a new round of rain.

• China’s top flood-control authority said cumulative rainfall could reach 300 to 450 millimetres in places in eastern Guangxi from Sunday to Tuesday, equivalent to up to 30% of the entire region’s average annual precipitation.

• Meanwhile, rescuers are racing to search for 34 people still missing after a landslide struck a county on the outskirts of southwest China’s Chongqing on Friday, killing eight people.

(Reporting by Shi Bu and Liz Lee; Editing by Michael Perry and Tomasz Janowski)