Six people were killed in east China's Shandong Province when a rainstorm swept through the eastern part of the region over the weekend.

The victims were from Qingdao and Rizhao; one was inside a house when it collapsed, one was struck by lightning and four drowned in rivers.

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

A total of 2.43 million people in 12 cities were affected. Fifteen were injured, 17,682 had their houses flooded and 68,928 were forced to evacuate.

Heavy rain also inundated 168,860 hectares of crops, toppled 2,930 houses, 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 others were injured.

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2007)