Heavy rains are causing severe flooding and landslides in southern China, destroying buildings, crops and roads, forcing many people to flee their homes.In the Guangxi autonomous region, some 145,000 people were taken to shelters and more than 10,000 homes were destroyed, the official Xinhua news agency reported.Another half a million people were affected in neighboring Jiangxi province, where the flood covered 433,000 hectares of cultivated land, according to local authorities.Some 274,000 people have sought shelter in Guangzhou province, according to the provincial emergency management department.Heavy rains have caused roads to collapse in some cities, washing away houses, crops and cars.The meteorological department has forecast rain for the next few days.On Sunday, the authorities issued the first red alert of the year, the most serious, for possible mountain torrents.Flooding is a common occurrence during the summer in central and southern China, where rainfall is heaviest.The worst floods in recent years were in 1998, when more than 2,000 people died and almost 3 million homes were destroyed, mainly along the Yangtze River, the country's largest river.The government has invested heavily in flood control and hydroelectric projects such as the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze.Receive the latest news in Spanish Monday, Wednesday and Friday.Subscribe to our newsletterYou may occasionally receive promotional content from the San Diego Union-Tribune en Español.To ensure that the San Diego Union-Tribune en Español remains healthy and robust, your donation, in any measure, is now more important than ever.Help us continue to inform the community.To donate click on the logo.Privacy Policy Privacy Policy Terms of Service Sign Up For Our Newsletters