A downpour with roaring thunders battered southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on July 17, stranding more than 5,000 passengers at the local airport.

Thundershowers started to blow on the mountainous city in the morning, and precipitation in the downtown area reached 200 millimeters.

By 4:00 p.m., about 240 flights had been affected, and 5,000 passengers were stranded at the Jiangbei International Airport in Chongqing, staff with the airport said.

Several outgoing flights were delayed for more than seven hours. And some incoming flights were forced to land at airports in the neighboring Chengdu and Guiyang.

The thunderstorm broke a small crack on the airport runway around noon, which was immediately repaired within a dozen minutes, the staff said.