Rain strands thousands in southwest China

Beijing: At least eight people died and 38 remain missing after torrential rains stranded 20,000 people in southwest China, the site of May's devastating earthquake that killed at least 80,000.

Heavy rains have caused flash floods and landslides in the mountainous Sichuan province since beginning on Monday night, Xinhua news agency reported, adding that roads and telephone lines had been cut.

The rainstorms were separate to a typhoon which ploughed into south China on Wednesday, killing at least five people, closing schools, cancelling flights, uprooting trees and bringing down billboards in several cities. Many rivers burst their banks.

Since moving into Vietnam, Typhoon Hagupit has weakened, but the country was on high alert for flash floods and landslides.

The army has sent a typhoon alert to more than 38,000 fishermen while the national carrier, Vietnam Airlines, cancelled a domestic northbound flight late on Wednesday.