Two more bodies have been found in east China's Shandong Province, bringing the death toll from the rainstorm that swept through the east of the region over the weekend to eight.

 

One of the victims was a 60-year-old man from Qingdao City who was killed by lightning, and the other was a 15-year-old girl who drowned in Weihai City.

 

The other six dead were from Qingdao and Rizhao, according to earlier reports.

 

Four others are still missing and 15 injured are being treated in hospital.

 

Shandong has been pounded by heavy rain since Thursday. The average rainfall in the province from 6:00 AM on Thursday to 6:00 AM on Sunday stood at 80.8 millimeters and Qingdao alone saw 221.2 millimeters.

 

A total of 2.46 million people in 12 cities were affected, including 17,682 whose homes were flooded and 68,928 who were forced to evacuate.

 

Heavy rains also inundated 168,860 hectares of crops, destroyed 2,930 homes, flooded 1,895 kilometers of roads, disrupted power supplies and communications, and caused landslides.

 

Shandong is still recovering from its worst rainstorm this year which came in July, when 40 people were killed and 197 were injured.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2007)