SHIJIAZHUANG -- North China's Hebei Province activated a Level III emergency response for major meteorological disasters at 11:00 a.m. on Friday as a new round of torrential rain is expected to lash the province from Friday to Saturday, local authorities said.

The provincial meteorological observatory continued to issue a yellow alert for heavy rain at 5:26 p.m. on Friday. Some parts of Hebei Province are expected to see heavy rainfall, with precipitation amounting to 200 millimeters from Friday afternoon to Saturday daytime.

China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Hebei is currently in a critical period for flood control, disaster relief, and post-disaster reconstruction. The area of upcoming heavy rainfall partly overlaps with the previous area of heavy precipitation and is accompanied by severe convective weather such as short-term strong winds and heavy rainfall, posing a high risk of disasters, according to local authorities.