(ROUGH CUT ONLY - NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />Torrential rains that triggered floods have affected more than 7.4 million people across seven provinces in southwest, central and eastern China, state broadcaster CCTV said on Wednesday (July 18).<br/> <br />It reported that nearly 3,000 people in the eastern province of Jiangxi had to be evacuated after their homes were inundated by flood waters.<br/> <br />Jiangxi province's worst-hit area, Nanfeng County, saw 358 millimetres (14 inches) of rain fall from morning till noon on Tuesday (July 17).<br/> <br />CCTV also said that firefighters rescued about 40 people and 200 pigs trapped by floodwaters in the city of Yichun in the province.<br/> <br />In Guizhou province, southwest China, firefighters rescued 14 people in the city of Tongren, after their homes were submerged.<br/> <br />Police and military personnel helped evacuate about 3,000 people from Guizhou's Pingtang county, CCTV reported.<br/> <br />Nearly 10,000 people in the city of Huaihua in central Hunan province were moved to drier ground after flood waters swelled to 1.5 metres (5 feet) deep.<br/> <br />China's Central Meteorological Centre said rains in the southern regions would gradually ease over the next three days.
