Rescuers conduct a water rescue drill in Wuxing District, Huzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, July 7, 2020.(Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)

BEIJING, July 8 -- Heavy downpours continued to wreak havoc across vast stretches of China on Wednesday as the country renewed its alert for rainstorms and multiple provincial-regions enhanced flood responses.

China's national observatory on Wednesday renewed its orange alert, the second-highest, for rainstorms, while the downpour is forecast to continue from Wednesday morning to Thursday morning, in large parts of southern China, according to the National Meteorological Center (NMC).

China's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters upgraded the emergency response for flood control from level IV to level III on Tuesday afternoon.

Statistics from China Meteorological Administration Tuesday showed that the accumulated precipitation since June 1 in east China's Anhui and Zhejiang provinces, central China's Hubei Province, and southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, is the highest compared with that of the same period since 1961, with the average precipitation in Anhui and Hubei exceeding 500 mm.

The NMC also warned Wednesday that some areas of east China's Jiangxi Province will experience downpours with up to 260 mm of daily rainfall.