Rescue teams distribute food and purified water to flood-stricken residents

Rainstorms hit Guangdong province for days killed 16 people by June 10, and affected a total of 1.5 million people in the province, according to Nanfang Daily.

Floods have torn down 5843 houses, damaged about 56,850 hectares of crops and 46 roads, and have caused an economic loss of more than 740.5 million RMB.

The Provincial government have ordered all-out efforts into the rescue work and asked local authorities to take good care of residents affected by the disaster.

In the seriously affected Meizhou City, the heavy rains have caused a total of 583.8 million RMB economic losses. Heavy rains also severely damaged the traffic in the city, of which 21 remained closed to traffic at 4:00 p.m. yesterday.

The Shenshan Railway in Meizhou City of Guangdong also severely damaged on Saturday, where 366 millimeters of rain was recorded between 6 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday. More than 1,100 passengers were stranded and railway authorities had to bring in coaches to ferry passengers to their destinations.

Train N632 from Shenzhen to Shantou in Guangdong Province and K636 from Shenzhen to Fuzhou City in Fujian have been suspended and it is not clear when they will resume, reported Shenzhen daily.

Elder residents are retreated from Xiyang Town to a higher place in Meixian County of south China's Guangdong Province, June 10, 2007.

At least 66 people have been killed in flooding and 12 missing in southern China by 6:00 p.m. (Beijing time) on Sunday, Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

"Floods caused by heavy rains have affected about 294,800 hectares of crops, completely destroying 53,000 hectares of them," said an official with the ministry,

The floods have torn down 48,000 and damaged 94,000 houses in southern China, and forced about 591,000 people to evacuate from their homes, the official said.

From Wednesday to Saturday, continuous torrential rains, mudslides and floods hit Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Jiangxi and Fujian, affecting more than 8.97 million people.

The disasters have caused an overall economic loss of more than 2.9 billion yuan (371 million U.S. dollars), according to the ministry.

The ministry has sent rescue teams to the disaster areas to assist relief work.

Editor: Yan