Eight schoolchildren were confirmed killed on Monday in floods caused by torrential rains in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Four students at the junior middle school of Liupu Town of Cangwu County, Wuzhou City, were killed and eight injured when a 3-meter-high wall built near the school canteen collapsed around 6 p.m. on Monday following days of rain. The injured are being treated in hospital.

Five pupils from Daguan Primary School in Shahe Township, Bobai, Yulin City, were swept away while passing through a swelling river on their way home late on Monday. Villagers had found bodies of four of the pupils by Wednesday afternoon.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs said rainstorms and floods had killed 63 people, with 13 others missing in nine provinces and regions as of Monday. A total of 1.66 million people had been relocated.

The rain destroyed 67,000 houses, damaged 1.02 million hectares of crops and caused 14.45 billion yuan worth of damage.

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

In Guangxi, the floods have damaged 505 highways, destroyed 418 school buildings, and forced the closures of 1,134 out of the 3,000 schools affected by the floods.

Rain-triggered geological disasters have left 45 dead, one missing and 26 injured in Guangxi since May 27, the local land resources department announced on Wednesday.

Guangxi meteorological department said the rain which had been pouring for 11 days will stop from Wednesday on. But the region is expected to see a new round of downpours in late June and July.

In Jiangxi, torrential rains which started on Monday had killed one and affected 860,000 people in the province. About 74,000 hectares of farmland were hit and 723 houses collapsed. The direct economic loss amounted to 388 million yuan (56.2 million US dollars).

In Fuzhou City of Jiangxi, 3,532 people have been relocated to avoid possible geological disasters and about 8,500 people are ready to move. Ganzhou City also relocated more than 5,000 people.

The ministries of civil affairs and finance on Tuesday allocated 95 million yuan to Guangxi and Jiangxi for a disaster relief fund.

The Central Meteorological Observatory on Wednesday forecast continued heavy rain in nine regions, with torrential rains, thunder storms, strong winds, or hail in parts of Guangxi, Zhejiang and Guangdong.

(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2008)