Rescue crews raced on Wednesday to clear debris and flooded roads as southern China braced for more extreme rainfall and spreading infection after some of the worst downpours this century, brought by a peak in East Asian monsoon rains, Reuters reported.

Forecasters warned of more thunderstorms after the century's second-heaviest August rains pounded Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, forcing its Baiyun airport, one of the world's busiest, to cancel 363 flights and delay 311.

The day before, the skies above Hong Kong and the high-tech cities of China's Pearl River Delta turned livid and dumped the heaviest August rainfall since 1884 on the Asian financial hub, according to Reuters.