Heavy rain has affected over 420,000 people in east China's Anhui Province, as local authorities launched the level II emergency response, the second-highest, for flood prevention Tuesday.

The downpour that started on July 2 has affected seven cities and 31 county-level administrations in the province, leading to the evacuation of 27,000 people and a direct economic loss of 510 million yuan (72 million U.S. dollars) as of Monday, local emergency management department said.

The rain has also affected 31,700 hectares of crops and damaged 617 houses.

The province raised its emergency response for flood prevention from level III to level II starting 12:00 p.m. Tuesday as the waters of multiple rivers exceeded warning levels, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

Under the threat of continuous heavy rain, the national college entrance examination did not proceed as scheduled in Shexian County, Anhui.

All of the 2,000-plus examinees in the county were affected on Tuesday morning as most of them were unable to reach exam venues on time.

And exams on Chinese language and math originally scheduled on Tuesday have been rescheduled to Thursday (July 9) while tests on other subjects will be held as scheduled on Wednesday.