At least 10,000 passengers were stranded at an airport in southwest China's Sichuan Province Friday after the worst rainstorm of the year hit the area, airport authorities said Saturday.

The thunderstorm hit Chengdu at 3 p.m. Friday, forcing Shuangliu International Airport to close, said Lu Junming, an airport official.

The airport reopened at 6 p.m. but quickly closed again.

"Of the 599 inbound and outbound flights, over 100 were delayed, 31 were canceled and 49 were forced to land at other airports," he said.

More than 10,000 passengers were stranded at the Chengdu airport until Saturday.

The airport is expected to run around the clock Saturday with a record 640 takeoffs and landings to handle all the layovers.

"This will be the largest number of throughput the airport has ever handled in a single day," Lu said.

The latest round of rainstorms to affect Sichuan Province began Thursday and had left three people dead and six missing as of midday Saturday, the provincial flood control headquarters said.