CCTV9英语新闻：暴雨袭击中国南方（在线收听）

A devastated landscape - homes and lives splintered. In Hunan province's central region, heavy rainstorms triggered landslides and flooding. Roads and houses now lie underwater. In one of the province's hardest-hit villages in the city of Linxiang, this week's rains left 2 people dead and 5 others still missing. Over 4,000 people were evacuated to safety.

A car is carried into the riverway by flood in Yincheng Town of Dexing City, east China's Jiangxi Province, June 3, 2015. Torrential downpours swept through provinces Jiangxi and Guizhou on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Hu dunhuang)

"I'm afraid of the flood waters in front of my house, and I don't dare to go outside. But I also can’t sleep at night inside.”

All across southern China - this is what people have been dealing with for the last three days.

In the city of Xianning in Hubei province, one thousand utility poles were toppled by rainstorms, cutting off the electricity to over 60,000 local residents.

In Chongyang county, flooding collapsed the riverbanks protecting more than 10 villages.

Bridges and roads across the region were destroyed. Residents trapped in their houses had to wait for rescuers in rubber dinghies to reach them and could do nothing but watch as their lives were swept away.

"I woke up at 6 o’clock in the morning and saw my car had been washed away by the flood."

"We just saved one woman who gave birth to her baby. And we saved two seniors. We have also already relocated over 100 villagers, but the rescue work is still ongoing," Rescuer Feng Weiping said.

The nightmare has unfolded in both urban and rural areas, with cities seeing major traffic delays and farmland submerged by water. And there is little relief in sight.

The rainstorm is expected to last for the next few days. The national meteorological center continues to list the southern region as a blue warning for torrential rain, the highest alert in the country's four-tier warning system.

Local authorities say they are doing everything they can to prevent more damage until the clouds finally part.

Photo taken on June 3, 2015 shows landslides rush into Pianyan Village of Shichang Township in Tongren, southwest China's Guizhou Province. Torrential downpours swept through provinces Jiangxi and Guizhou on Wednesday.(Xinhua/Long Yuanbin)

Landslides rush into a villager's house in Xibeijie Village of Niuchang Township in Fuquan, southwest China's Guizhou Province, June 3, 2015. Torrential downpours swept through provinces Jiangxi and Guizhou on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Wu Rubo)

Photo taken with a cellphone shows a police officer checking a flooded road in Jiujiang, east China's Jiangxi Province on June 3, 2015. Torrential downpours swept through provinces Jiangxi and Guizhou on Wednesday. (Xinhua)

A man transports materials in his flooded bamboo ware factory in Dexing City, east China's Jiangxi Province, June 3, 2015. Torrential downpours swept through provinces Jiangxi and Guizhou on Wednesday.