英语文摘:Death toll rises, 42,000 relocated in rainstorms in central China

CHANGSHA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The body of an elderly man has been recovered from the debris of a landslide, bringing the death toll from rainstorms in central China's Hunan Province to 12, the Hunan flood-control and drought relief headquarters said Thursday.

About 42,000 people were relocated to safe areas over the past day as the rainstorms lashed more than 280 townships in Hunan from 2 p.m. Wednesday, said a statement from the headquarters.

The latest victim was a 72-year-old man who died in a rain-triggered landslide in Xupu County of Huaihua City, where four bridges collapsed and 68 roads were cut by flooding, said Zhou Shengqi, publicity officer of Xupu.

A strawberry field in Loudi, Central China's Hunan province is flooded on May 13, 2010.

The rainstorms damaged 10,200 hectares of crops and destroyed 480 residential buildings in the county, Zhou said.

The violent weather occurred five days after storms that killed 11 people and left two others missing in Hunan.

Heavy rains were forecast to continue to pound Hunan for the next five days and neighboring Guangdong Province for the next two days, provincial meteorological authorities said Thursday.