Forty-eight people were killed by rainstorms and floods caused by Typhoon Bilis across China after it landed, government sources said on Sunday.

Three more deaths were confirmed in Leiyang of the worst-hit south China's Hunan Province, after torrential rain started at the dawn of Saturday.

As of 8 AM Sunday, maximum rainfall in the city had reached 450 millimeter. The heavy rain is still going on.

Rescuers have evacuated 52,000 people, but nearly 5,000 others are still stranded by flood.

At least 2.3 million people in Hunan have been affected by the rainstorm and floods. About 31,400 houses were toppled down and 36,630 hectares of farmland were spoiled.

Death toll in south China's Guangdong Province has risen to nine with 13 others missing, as Typhoon Bilis incurred downpour and landslide in the southeast part of the province.

At least 6,500 people have been evacuated to safe places, while another 12,000 are still trapped.

In the Lechang city, where the urban areas have been flooded and average depth of water has reached 3 meters, 1,663 prisoners from the Beijiang Prison have been transferred to safer places on a hill.

The Beijing-Guangzhou Railway was cut off by the flood and a train carrying over 1,000 passengers started from Guangzhou were intercepted in Lechang at 10 PM Saturday. The passengers have all been sent to catch trains in nearby cities.

Stations in Hunan along the Beijing-Guangzhou line are crowded with people. In the railway station of Changsha, capital city of Hunan, at least 5,000 passengers are kept waiting.

Local meteorological departments said there will still be heavy rains or rainstorms in Guangdong in the coming days.

After it landed in southeast China's Fujian Province at 12:50 PM on Friday, Bilis also affected more than 2.4 million people in Fujian and Zhejiang Provinces in east China and caused huge economic losses.

Officials with the Fujian Flood Prevention Office are warning local people of continuing heavy rain and potential flood, especially in central and southern parts of the province.

(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2006)