Torrential rains and floods in southern China have left at least 20 people dead and five missing, Xinhua reported. More than 670,000 people have been relocated as downpours have destroyed houses, flooded crops, cut power, damaged roads and caused rivers to overflow, according to the latest figures from the provinces of Hunan, Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. In Hunan, eight people died and 140,000 were forced out of their homes, according to the provincial flood control office. In Fujian, five people died and two are missing. In Jiangxi, three people who were previously reported as missing have been confirmed dead, bringing the province's death toll to five. About 230,000 people had to flee their homes. In Guangdong, two construction works were killed by a collapsed wall. In Guangxi, 285,800 people were relocated. The flood control headquarters in Jiangxi said Sunday night that crops on 200,000 hectares of farmland have been damaged and thousands of homes toppled. Direct economic losses were estimated at 3.13 billion yuan (458.9 million U.S. dollars). Jiangxi's Chongyi and Dayu counties witnessed the worst rainstorm and flood in history. Flood water was 2 meters deep in the county seat of Dayu. In Guangxi's Rongshui county, 62 schools were flooded, and about 300 students were trapped in a boarding school. An official with the county education bureau, Luo Enwu, told Xinhua on Sunday that local authorities had managed to send drinking water and food to them and restore power supply. In Guangxi's Luocheng county, about thousands of residents, including 2,800 students, living downstream from the Kama reservoir dam, had been moved to safety as a 13.5-meter section of a dyke near the dam breached due to rising water level. On Sunday, workers dug two sluices, each 15 meters wide and 10 meters deep, on the dam to discharge flood water. Chen Zhangliang, vice chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said the dangerous situation was expected to be removed within a few days with the sluices on the dam. The strong rain began to subside on Sunday in parts of Guangxi, such as Guilin and Liuzhou cities, but local authorities are warning of possible flooding as river levels remain high. However, eight more counties in Guangxi were hit by rainstorms Sunday, said the regional civil affairs department. As of 11:40 a.m. Sunday, 3,600 homes in Guangxi had been toppled and crops on 103,400 hectares damaged. Direct economic losses from the rains stood at 1.34 billion yuan, according to the department. In the tourist city of Guilin in Guangxi, traffic on 38 highways had been cut off as the highways were damaged by rain. Workers had repaired nine of them as of Sunday evening.
