China’s weather agency said areas of Jiangxi, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan faced a high risk of rain-related disasters, including landslides, flash ​floods and severe urban flooding and waterlogging.

Authorities said they have allocated 150 million yuan ($22.04 million) for ​disaster relief and launched emergency responses in several affected areas.

Many residents in Jingzhou, a ⁠city in central Hubei, were knee-deep in water and able to catch fish swimming in the ​streets, according to images posted on Chinese video platform Douyin.

Some cars were nearly completely submerged on roads ​surrounded by residential and commercial buildings.

Ten people were confirmed dead after a pickup truck carrying 15 farm workers fell into a flooded river in China’s southwestern region of Guangxi amid heavy rain, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

In separate incidents, heavy rain and ​flooding killed four people in southwestern Guizhou province, four others in southern Hunan province, and three in ​a low-lying village in central Hubei province, CCTV said.

Several people remain missing.

Schools, businesses and transport services have ‌been ⁠suspended, and authorities are relocating residents in some parts of Hubei and Hunan, state media reported.

Heavy rain expected along Yangtze River

The unusually large area of intense rainfall - spanning more than 1,000 km (621 miles) - was due to the convergence of abundant moisture from the Bay of Bengal, the South China Sea and the Pacific ​Ocean.

The slow-moving nature of ​the weather system ⁠also led to the high cumulative rainfall, according to Chinese meteorologists.

China’s National Meteorological Centre said severe weather would gradually move east and south across China over the ​next two days. From Wednesday, the heaviest rainfall is expected along the middle ​and lower ⁠reaches of the Yangtze River.

China’s southern Hainan island issued a geological disaster warning on Tuesday, as a mountainside collapsed onto a highway in Lingshui, prompting authorities to close several major roads in that area of the island.

Separately, ⁠authorities in ​Guangxi set up temporary shelters on 99 sites for more ​than 4,000 residents and relocated 7,000 people after a magnitude 5.2 earthquake on Monday, which sent tremors across multiple cities in the region.