Death toll in rainstorms in southwest China's Guizhou Province has jumped to 52, with another 20 people missing, the government source confirmed on Friday.

Torrential rains lingering from May 1 to June 15 have hit 293 townships in 47 counties in Guizhou, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The headquarters said the casualty was mainly caused by flash floods, which is also disastrous to crops.

The floods, landslides and storms in the rainy season have caused interruptions in traffic, telecommunications and power supply in some counties, with Wangmo and Luodian counties worst hit, said flood control officials with the headquarters.

In the worst hit Wangmo County, floods have claimed at least 30 lives.

Wang Zhibin, secretary of Wangmo County Committee of Communist Party of China (CPC), said 165,260 people were affected by the floods. More than 2,400 houses collapsed and 1,500 hectares of farmland were damaged.

The headquarters estimated that the flood disasters have induced 1.3 billion yuan (US$162 million) in accumulated economic losses in Guizhou.

The provincial observatory said that the rainy season is expected to continue to the mid July, causing more regional flooding. However, the northern, eastern and southern parts of the province are likely to suffer drought between the mid July and August.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2006)