HEFEI, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Nine people have been killed and almost 90,000 affected after storms ravaged east China's Anhui Province on Thursday and Friday, provincial government said.

    Five people were crushed to death when a two-story building collapsed after being struck by lightning in Linquan County, according to the provincial disaster relief office.

    Two other cities in the province each reported a death from lightning strikes.

    One other person died in a ship collision and one died beneath a fallen tree in the strong winds.

    The storms brought down 251 houses and damaged more than 2,000 others.

    Lightning strikes have claimed at least 403 lives in China this year, equivalent to last year's total, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

    In July alone, lightning killed 141 people, the highest monthly death toll since records began in 2000, according to the CMA.

    Some of the victims were farmers working in the fields and some other lightning accidents were blamed on lack of lightning rods in buildings.