Rainstorms in South and Southwest China have killed 170 people and forced 1.6 million people to flee from their homes since late May, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Wednesday.

The latest disaster happened on Tuesday morning, when mud and rock flattened a petrol station in Xingyi, Guizhou Province, killing two people and injuring two others, Guizhou Metropolis Newspaper reported yesterday.

Started from June 1, continuous heavy rains have caused serious floods in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as well as Chongqing municipality, said Li Baojun, a ministry official in charge of disaster relief.

Fujian and Guizhou have suffered the most, with a total of 98 people killed and more than 20 others still missing, Li said.

In South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, two rainstorms in the past three weeks have killed 21 people and affected the lives of more than 4.6 million others, a regional civil affairs spokesman said.

The two rainstorms, hitting 71 counties around Wuzhou and Baise between June 7 and 10 and between June 13 and 15, caused mud-rock flows, landslides and mountain torrents, he said. 195,500 people were evacuated from their homes.

The civil affairs department has sent five rescue teams to nine cities to help locals reconstruct their homes, he said.

Meanwhile, the central government has allotted 21 million yuan (US$2.6 million) in relief funds, which will be distributed among disaster-ravaged cities including Wuzhou and Guilin, the spokesman said.

By mid June, China's central government had earmarked 116 million yuan (US$14.5 million) in emergency disaster relief for flood victims in southern China, statistics from Li's ministry indicated.

The disaster-affected area was larger and damage was heavier than last year, Li Baojun said, adding the disasters have led to 15 billion yuan (US$1.85 billion) of economic losses so far this year.

In related news, regions in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River entered the annual rainy season yesterday. Intermittent drizzle will linger in these areas for about one month, according to Shen Shuqin, a chief weather forecaster at Jiangsu Meteorological Station.

Provinces along the Yangtze River should implement grass-roots preparation measures to fight against floods as the river basin enters the rainy season, warned Wei Shanzhong, an official in charge of flood control along the Yangtze River.

Despite the rain, meteorologists are worried about a possible drought.

Statistics indicate that rainfall in Jiangsu Province since June has been nearly 40 per cent below average, leading to the drying up of many rivers in the province.

(China Daily June 22, 2006)