Mountain torrents caused by heavy rains and stormy weather in Maoming City have devastated the region, causing losses totaling 140 million yuan (US$16.9million).

The average rainfall overnight Saturday reached 300 milliliters and affected more than 66,000 people in 17 villages in the townships of Xintong, Changpo and Yuntai townships of Gaozhou city, a county level city under the jurisdiction of Maoming City.

A total of 1,144 houses and 2,633 hectares of farmland were flooded. The floods also caused 25 bridges to collapse and 13.6 kilometers of riverbanks to cave in. Ten power stations were also damaged.

The Guangdong Provincial Government has sent relief teams to the flood-stricken villages to help farmers rebuild homes and restart production, the Southern Metropolitan News reported.

President Hu Jintao has ordered flood prevention officials to prepare for more flooding after weeks of heavy rain resulted in the deaths of at least 296 people and affected millions, State media said.

Widespread flooding has forced more than 412,000 people to flee their homes, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on its Web site.

Floods have been sweeping across the northwestern part of Hunan province since last Saturday, affecting 2.68 million people, Xinhua said.

Authorities said disasters "are likely to occur throughout China at any moment in the days ahead since the entire country is now in its major flood season," the China Daily said.

By Sunday, flooding had affected 14,000 people, destroyed over 6,000 houses and submerged almost 3,000 hectares of cropland in Shandong Province, the newspaper said.

Editor: Catherine