WUHAN, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Heavy rainstorm that swept through the Enshi Prefecture of central China's Hubei Province since Friday has left at least eight people dead, two missing and about 785,000 affected.

People use a board to block water at the door of a shop on the flooded Weiming Road in Cangzhou City, north China's Hebei Province, July 5, 2008. Heavy rainfall hit Cangzhou on Saturday. (Xinhua/Fu Xinchun) Photo Gallery>>>

    Tan Yunju, a woman in Wanzhai Township, Xuan'en County, was killed by lightening. Hu Chengbo, a primary school pupil in Lichuan City, was washed away by mountain floods. Two passers-by were killed by a collapsed wall in Badong County.

    Huang Changcui, a woman in Toudaoshui village, Enshi City, was buried by a collapsed house and died later when all rescue efforts failed. Three children, aged between 4 and 6, were killed by a landslide in the same village.

    Rescuers are searching for the two missing in Tianba village, Lichuan City, after a truck fell into a river on Saturday morning as a result of heavy rain.

    As of 6 a.m. on Sunday, 785,000 residents in the prefecture, an autonomous region inhabited by Tujia and Miao ethnic people, were affected by rainstorms. The local government relocated 14,255 people living in low-lying areas.

    The rainstorms also damaged 32,039 hectares of cropland, toppled down 874 houses and damaged another 2,240, resulting in direct economic losses of 245 million yuan (35.7 million U.S. dollars).