Six people in Xinyi City, south China's Guangdong Province, died and seven others were injured in landslides caused by torrential rains.

Xinyi is a mountain city in western Guangdong. The northern parts of the city were hit by continuous torrential rain from July16 to 20.

Flooding caused by the torrential rain has affected 439,000 people in 23 townships, and damaged 15,502 houses, 13,900 hectares of cropland and five hydropower stations, local officials said Wednesday.

Total direct economic loss is estimated at more than 100 million yuan (US$12.1 million).

Guangdong provincial and Xinyi city authorities have given priority to helping the local residents. More than 250,000 people have been organized to help with rescue and relief work and relief supplies have been dispatched to the landslide-ridden areas.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2002)