DHAKA: At least 20 people have died in the past week as torrential rain batters swathes of China, with at least six killed by lightning, thousands of homes destroyed and more than 300,000 evacuated, state media said.

There had been six deaths from lightning strikes in the central province of Jiangxi since last Friday, the official Xinhua news agency reported, says The Straits Times.

There were other fatalities from lightning in Guizhou in the southwest, it said, where a total of seven people died.

A landslide in the province early Thursday buried eight people, Xinhua said, with two rescued by mid-morning but six still missing.

BDST: 1258 HRS, JUL 17, 2014