Thousands of travellers on this north-south line of the double-track railway route were stranded for several hours as more than 10 trains ground to a standstill in the province's Hengyang station.

The disruption also kept passengers waiting at Guangzhou Station in South China's Guangdong Province.

Most of the trains, which were from northern parts of the country, were delayed significantly. About 800 policemen and railway workers worked around the clock to rebuild the roadbed for over 40 hours.

Floods, landslides and mudflows-the worst rain-induced calamities this season-will continue to pose a severe threat to residents living along the Yangtze River in the coming week.

Experts at the Central Meteorological Observatory warned yesterday that torrential downpours are likely to hit the eastern parts of the Sichuan Basin, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and southern parts of the Yellow-Huaihe River Valley for another three days.

Days of heavy torrential rain have caused serious floods in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is reported that as of yesterday Qinzhou had seen the worst flooding for that area in eight years. Thirteen small-scale reservoirs and 90 dams have been destroyed.

One person died and seven were missing after a passenger ferry sank in Chenxi in the autonomous region on Saturday. Six of the 14 people on board were unharmed. But the river's rising water level, caused by the torrential rain one day earlier, impeded the efforts of rescue workers.

By Saturday, the most voluminous floods so far this year had claimed 20 lives and left 910,000 people homeless in Southwest China's Sichuan Province after a second series of storms had engulfed the region.

Heavy rains over the past few days have also caused floods, landslides and mudflows in Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan and other provinces in southern parts of China. At least 34 people have been confirmed dead.

(China Daily June 30, 2003)