Four people have died, two are missing and more than 20,000 have been displaced due to landslides and floods triggered by torrential rain in the past week in central China's Hubei Province.

The rain began to hit Yichang, southern Hubei, on June 17. By Saturday, the area had reported rainfall of 167 millimeters, according to the Yichang city government.

Around 450,000 people in 71 townships have been affected, and nearly 8,000 houses have been damaged or even destroyed.

The rain pelted rural roads, bridges and river dams and affected 47,000 hectares of cropland.

Traffic, power and telecommunications were completely cut off in three townships of Wufeng Autonomous County of Tujia Nationality after the area was hit by the strongest rainstorm in half a century on Friday.

The continuous rain has caused economic losses of 280 million yuan (US$36.8 million) in Yichang.

Government working teams have rushed to the worst-hit areas to carry out disaster relief operation.

Weather forecasters say Yichang will have another rainstorm on Tuesday despite a clear day on Sunday.

(Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2007)