Now rain threatens reservoirs in quake-hit China

BEIJING (Reuters) - Heavy rain hit south and east China on Wednesday, killing one and threatening reservoirs a day after a dangerous "quake lake" drained to safety in the southwest, state media said.

Water levels in at least five reservoirs in eastern Zhejiang province had risen above warning levels, Xinhua news agency said, after days of rain devastated southern Guangdong province and hit record levels in neighboring Hong Kong.

One person was killed in the southern Guangxi autonomous region and nearly 4,000 structures collapsed there and in coastal Zhejiang and nearby Jiangxi provinces.

The rain also "affected" over 1.8 million people across the region, damaged cropland, reservoirs and power lines and forced the closure of over 250 roads, Xinhua reported.

The National Meteorological Center forecast that heavy rain would sweep across much of southern China in coming days, from quake-hit Sichuang province to coastal Shanghai.

Rainstorms brought havoc to Hong Kong on Saturday, bringing the heaviest downpour since records began and sparking widespread flooding and dozens of landslides, one of which killed two people.

The rain closed roads, including the airport highway, and hundreds of flights were delayed.

China on Tuesday declared victory over an unstable "quake lake" as floodwaters were released downstream, where hundreds of thousands had been under threat of a second crisis.

Waters poured out of the Tangjiashan lake, the largest of more than 30 formed when landslides triggered by the May 12 earthquake dammed rivers, after soldiers blasted away rocks, mud and other rubble blocking its path along a sluice.

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie)