Tropical storm kills at least 170 in south China

BEIJING - Torrential rains have killed at least 170 people across south China since the weekend, flooding cities, sweeping away houses and cutting off utilities as well as rail and road links, state media has reported.

The rains were triggered by Tropical Storm Bilis, which killed dozens in the Philippines and Taiwan before hitting China on Friday, where it was supposed to weaken but instead wrought havoc across six provinces.

At least 170 died and 138 were still missing as downpours continued on Monday in many of the worst-hit areas in Hunan, Guangdong and Fujian provinces, state-run Xinhua news agency and China Central Television (CCTV) said.

Xinhua cited the national disaster relief office as saying that a total of 20 million people had been affected by the rains, 2.2 million of whom had been evacuated.

Direct economic losses as a result of the storm totalled 12 billion yuan ($2.45 billion), Xinhua said, as 160,000ha of crops and 113,000 houses were destroyed.

Rains are forecast to continue over the next two days in Fujian, Hunan and Guangdong provinces.

Nearly two million residents and soldiers have been mobilised in Hunan to battle back flood waters that are expected to peak along the province's primary river, the Xiang, on Tuesday, Xinhua said.

CCTV showed footage of flooded rice fields and of soldiers evacuating villagers stranded on the roofs of their homes.

A section of the Beijing-Zhuhai highway that links the country's capital to China's southern industrial hubs has been submerged by water as deep as three metres in Hunan, Xinhua said, adding that "its resumption is unlikely in the near future".

More than 8800 train passengers were stranded for hours when the Beijing-Guangzhou railway was cut, CCTV said, adding that authorities have suspended service on more than 100 passenger trains along the rail link, one of the country's most important.

South China is plagued by rainstorms every summer, but this year's flood season has been particularly deadly, already claiming hundreds of lives before Bilis struck.

- REUTERS