Twenty six people died and 41 were missing after mudslides hit southwest China's Yunnan Province over the weekend, said local authorities.

China initiated a level three emergency response on Monday after rain-triggered landslides killed at least 26 people in southwestern Yunnan Province.

Continuous downpours in and south of the Yangtze River since Friday have caused floods, landslides and mudslides in the worst-hit Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

More than 411,000 people in 13 counties and cities of Yunnan have been affected, according to statistics of the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters. In Guangxi, more than 847,000 people were affected, with at least eight dead.

According to forecasts, areas in and south of the Yangtze River could expect medium-intensity rain, with Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and Sichuan to be hit by heavy rain during the next three days.

The administration urged its local divisions and other departments in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan to enhance weather forecasts and closely monitor the situation.

The death toll from mudslides in southwest China's Yunnan Province has risen to 26, with four more people confirmed dead, local authorities said Monday.

The bodies were found in a village in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, the area hardest hit by two days of torrential rain, said Fa Yubin, deputy head of the prefectural government.

Chuxiong has so far reported 20 deaths and 41 people missing with another 367,000 affected. The provincial capital Kunming reported four deaths and Lincang City, two deaths.

More than 25,000 people have been evacuated to safety and five disaster relief teams were at work, said Fa.

"We promise the evacuated people will have adequate food, clothes and medical services and children will go back to school as soon as possible," said the official.

Initial investigations show more than 1,000 homes collapsed and some 2,300 others were damaged in the disaster. Cropland, power supplies, telecommunications and transportation services were also affected.

The government of Chuxiong has allocated 1.5 million yuan (220,000 U.S. dollars) for relief work and about 1,000 rescuers, including 96 medical workers, have been sent to the affected areas.

The Yunnan branch of the Red Cross Society of China said the first batch of relief materials, including tents and quilts, were transported to Chuxiong on Monday morning and were being distributed to Xishelu and other damaged areas.

The local government was also sending rice, clothes and other necessities.

Soldiers, police, local government officials and medical staff were helping those affected.

Mudslides triggered by heavy rain and snow also cut water and power supplies, and roads were damaged in some villages of the province's Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Deqen.

Some 40 families in Yanggong village had lived without electricity and tap water for 10 days.

"Now, we have to spend more than five hours to fetch spring water from the mountains and it's very dangerous, with occasional landslides," said villager Gesang Wangdue.

Zhang Yongming, deputy head of the Deqen County government, said it might take a month to clear the roads, but the power and water could be back on within a week.

The provincial government of Yunnan had allocated another 3 million yuan for relief work and 600 more police were mobilized for rescue work, said vice provincial governor Luo Changfu, who was supervising the damage investigation in Chuxiong.

The weather forecast said heavy rain could continue in the affected areas in the next day or two, hampering relief efforts.

Chuxiong has strengthened monitoring in the mudslide-prone areas and patrols along reservoirs and dams.

(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2008)