Seven people died and two were missing in constant rainstorms on Friday and Saturday that have devastated parts of Meizhou City, south China's Guangdong Province.

By 6:00 p.m. Saturday, the storms had incurred direct economic losses of 280 million yuan (US$33.73 million), said the city's flood prevention headquarters.

Preliminary statistics from the headquarters also show 406,000 people in 89 towns affected by the rainstorms as 2,440 houses were destroyed and 26,370 hectares of crops were damaged.

Long stretches of power transmission and telecommunications lines, highways and bridges have also been destroyed.

Leading officials of the city have directed rescue operations at the devastated areas. So far, more than 18,000 people have been evacuated from flooded areas.

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2003)