A bank collapse along a rain-swollen river in Fujian Province flooded 11 villages where thousands of families were asleep Thursday morning, killing an undetermined number of people.

Neighboring provinces in the south are bracing for downpours that could lead to more flooding.

Authorities were trying yesterday to determine the number of deaths and injuries in the mishap in Changting County of Fujian Province in southeast China.

More than 30 meters of the embankment was flushed open by the floodwater along the Bashili River at Hetian Town about 3 AM, authorities said.

The water inundated 11 villages, where people belonging to more than 3,500 households were sleeping, they said.

The nightmare began about two hours after the downpour hit the county. The town of Hetian received 91 millimeters of rain within two hours.

Before the bank collapsed, at least 41 people had been killed in the heaviest rainstorm Fujian experienced in decades, the provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters reported yesterday.

Since the heavy rain hit Fujian on May 28, many rivers have flooded in its north-central and western areas. The hardest-hit areas were Longyan, Sanming, Quanzhou, Ningde, Nanping and the provincial capital Fuzhou, authorities said.

More than 400,000 residents were forced to flee their homes.

Mud and rock flow and landslides triggered by the severe weather have toppled about 10,000 houses and damaged another 55,000, according to the flood headquarters.

In addition, more than 100,000 hectares of crops were damaged.

Provincial authorities have estimated direct economic losses at more than 3.15 billion yuan (US$394 million).

The heavy rain also has forced education authorities to postpone the college entrance exam, which started on Wednesday, for more than 4,500 students in Fujian's Jian'ou City.

In Fujian's neighboring province of Jiangxi, rail traffic was disrupted yesterday as floods destroyed the roadbed for a national rail artery that links Beijing to Kowloon in Hong Kong.

More than 30 meters of the rail roadbed collapsed. Trains heading south were delayed for about two hours. Passengers going north were waiting yesterday for the repair work to finish.

In southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, authorities yesterday said at least 12 people were killed in landslides following the heaviest rainstorm over the past 40 years in the city of Wuzhou.

The city reported 250 millimeters of rain within 12 hours ending 7 AM yesterday.

The torrential rain led to at least 930 landslides across the city during the period.

(Shanghai Daily June 9, 2006)