A total of 403 Chinese have died, 105 are missing and 3.17 million people have been relocated as the rainy season coupled with ferocious flood waters continues to batter central and southern China.

Millions of people strung across 24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have been lashed by torrential rains and floods.

More than 5.5 million hectares of grain crops have been damaged while 30,000 houses are partially or wholly destroyed.

Economic losses had risen to 31.9 billion yuan by Thursday (about US$4.25 billion). The damages to hydrological projects amounted to nearly five billion yuan (about US$667 million) or 15 percent of the total.

Cheng Dianlong, deputy director of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, said that the water levels of the trunk Huaihe River are still above warning marks, with Wujiadu registering a water level of 20.86 meters and Jiangjiaba as much as 13.85 meters.

Seven flood buffer zones have been used to reduce flood peaks in the middle reaches of the Huaihe River, he said.

A total of 511,200 people including civilians, armed forces and reserve military personnel in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces along the river have been mobilized to patrol river banks and water dams.

More relief materials including 80 rubber boats, 40,000 square meters of water-proof fabric, 6,000 life jackets and 100,000 knitted sacks have been sent to the flood-hit provinces.

The three provinces have suffered a direct economic loss of 8.4 billion yuan (about US$1.12 billion), more than a quarter of the country's total.

The China Meteorological Station forecast Thursday heavy rain for the next three days in the Huaihe River valley and the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2007)