GUANGZHOU -- Rainstorms disrupted air traffic in southern Chinese city Guangzhou on Sunday, prompting local airport authorities to issue "orange" alert.

By 10:30 pm, 75 flights were delayed for more than one hour, the Guangzhou Baiyun Airport said late Sunday.

Meanwhile, 93 flights were cancelled and one flight was diverted to another airport, it said.

Due to rainstorms in Guangzhou and neighboring regions, the airport issued a "blue" alert for massive air traffic disruption on Sunday evening and later raised the alert to "yellow" and further to "orange" hours later.

This is the first alert this year. This highest alert is "red".

The rainstorms are expected to abate as of 2 am Monday.