Tourists visit the Forbidden City in rain in Beijing, capital of China on July 20 (XINHUA)

China's meteorological authority  maintained its orange alert, the second highest of its four-tier warning system, for rainstorms across the country.

Torrential rain will hit parts of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan and Yunnan from the afternoon of July 20 to the afternoon of July 21, with rainfall of up to 240 millimeters in some places.

The National Meteorological Center advised people living in the affected areas to prepare for possible floods, landslides and mud and rock flows, and those that live in mountainous areas should move to safe places.

Heavy rain across China since June has resulted in heavy casualties, while a powerful tornado along with hailstorms in Yancheng City in China's Jiangsu Province on June 23 left around 100 dead.

China has a four-tier color-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2016)