Rainstorms and floods have killed 63 people, with 13 others missing in nine provinces and region in south China as of Monday, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA).

A total of 1.66 million people have been evacuated, the ministry said.

The disaster knocked down 67,000 houses, damaged crops on 1.02 million hectares of farms and caused a direct economic loss of 14.45 billion yuan (2.06 billion US dollars).

Rainstorms and floods have ravaged the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guizhou and Yunnan and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region since June 6. Among them, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan and Jiangxi were worst-hit, the ministry said.

The MCA and the Ministry of Finance allocated 95 million yuan to Guangxi and Jiangxi as a disaster relief fund Tuesday to help support daily life of people in flood-hit areas.

A total of 3,000 tents have been sent to Guangxi, according to the MCA.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2008)