Heavy rain affects millions in China's Anhui

Heavy rain has affected more than 9.9 million people in east China's Anhui Province, local authorities said.

Continuous downpours led to the evacuation of some 1.31 million people, and caused direct economic losses of nearly 44 billion yuan (about 6.3 billion U.S. dollars) as of 11 a.m. on Friday, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The rain also damaged 1.15 million hectares of crops, the headquarters said.