One more person was found killed by mud-rock flows in the Yibin city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, bringing the death toll in the province from rainstorms over the past week to 18, said a local official in charge of disaster relief on Tuesday.

More than 200,000 people were plagued by ensuing natural disasters after torrential rains lashed by typhoon Sepat began pounding the mountainous province from last Wednesday.

Downpours also toppled down 2,415 houses in Yibin in southeast Sichuan, spoilt 5,653.3 hectares of crops, cut off four state and provincial highways and resulted in a direct economic loss of 41.5 million yuan (US$5.5 million).

Typhoon Sepat that churned ashore in east China's Fujian Province on Aug. 19 has left a trail of chaos as it stormed through the neighboring Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Hunan provinces.

China reported 39 death and nine people missing in floods and mud-rock flows triggered by Sepat in eastern and central parts of the country.

Sichuan forecast downpours at the end of this month. Local governments are warned of natural disasters.

(Xinhua News Agency August 29, 2007)