Freight and passenger traffic resumed Friday night on a pivotal highway to southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region after mud-rock flows triggered by Thursday night's heavy rain halted traffic, local authorities said Friday night.

More than 100 vehicles that had been stranded in the Nyingchi section of the highway for more than 10 hours hit the road at 11 p.m. after traffic police helped clear obstacles of mud and rocks, said police officer Chen Jun.

Rocks rolling down the mountains posed a threat to them on the narrow, zigzagging section of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway in Tibet's Nyingchi Prefecture, making their work more difficult, he said.

Heavy rain hit most parts of China Thursday and Friday, relieving the prolonged drought in the northern regions but escalating flood alarms in the south.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2009)