At least 25 people have been killed and tens of thousands have been evacuated after a week of torrential rain caused severe flooding in southern China. The country's Civil Affairs Ministry said four million people in 10 provinces have been affected by floods and landslides since storms started on Monday 13 June.

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In southeastern Jiangxi Province, people pushed cars floating in waist-high water, while other vehicles were swept away, as near record levels of rainfall battered southwestern China.

Firefighters evacuated hundreds of people from their homes after at least 240mm (more than nine inches) of rain caused flooding in Guangshui City, in China's Hubei Province. Members of the emergency services also worked to rescue stranded residents elsewhere in the province, after four inches of rain fell in less than three hours. Torrential rainfall also caused deadly flooding and landslides in Hunan Province.

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Residents try to ride a motorcycle through a flooded area during heavy rainfall in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province Reuters
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A road is turned into a river in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province VCG via Getty Images
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A bus goes is driven through deep floodwaters in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province Reuters
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Municipal workers try to remove a manhole cover in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province VCG via Getty Images
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A worker tries to make his way through a flooded area in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province Reuters
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Rescuers save a resident from a flooded area in Duchang, Jiangxi Province Reuters
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A man pushes a car on a flooded street in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province Reuters
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Motorcycles protrude from floodwaters in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province Hu Guolin/Getty Images
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Residential buildings are surrounded by deep muddy water after heavy rainfall in Hengyang, Hunan Province Reuters
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Rescuers save a man wading in flood water after heavy rainfall in Hengyang, Hunan Province Reuters
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Rescuers work around vehicles buried at a landslide site in Zhuzhou, Hunan Province Reuters
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A man walks on a flooded street in Wuhan, Hubei Province Reuters
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A resident walks past a car in a flooded area of Huangshan, Anhui Province Reuters
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Members of the emergency services move an electrical appliance out of a flooded shop in Luzhou, Sichuan Province Reuters
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A woman rides a motorcycle along a flooded street in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Reuters

The southern part of the country is hit every year during the monsoon seasons of May, June and July, but this rainy season has been particularly bad. Water levels in some major rivers have exceeded those of 1998, when China was hit by disastrous floods that affected 180 million people, according to state media reports. Authorities have taken emergency measures, including discharging water from the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.

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