The Ministry of Civil Affairs announced yesterday that it will implement its top emergency aid scheme to help combat flood disasters in East China's Fujian Province.

"At least two people were killed and 17 others went missing during the recent rainstorms in Yongding County in Fujian," Li Baojun, a ministry official in charge of disaster relief, said.

Authorities will launch the "class four" aid scheme used only when dealing with disasters that have caused great losses, the official said.

Torrential rains on Sunday morning hit most of the villages in six townships in Yongding, forcing the displacement of more than 5,000 residents, Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

Flash floods submerged more than 200 buildings, toppling 30 of them, it said. Power supply and communications in the county seat have been cut off.

By press time, many people who were evacuated had begun returning to their homes.

Lingering rains in many parts of southern China such as Fujian, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Guangdong, Sichuan and Hunan provinces have claimed dozens of lives since June 1, according to the ministry.

Floods, landslides and storms in the rainy season have caused interruptions in traffic, telecommunications and power supply in many places, said flood control officials.

In Southwest China's Sichuan Province, a sudden landslide on Sunday killed 11 residents, damaging scores of houses in Shiji Township in Kangding County.

A 3-year-old child survived the disaster, which caused the death of the other four family members, reports said.

In Central China's Hunan Province, heavy rains have caused two deaths and the displacement of 50,000 people, mainly in Chenzhou, Zhuzhou and Loudi cities, reports said.

In Southwest China's Guizhou Province, lingering rainstorms from May 1 to June 15 have hit 293 townships in 47 counties in Guizhou, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The death toll of the rainstorms in the province has jumped to 52, with another 20 people missing, a government source confirmed on Friday.

The headquarters said the casualties were mainly caused by flash floods, which also ravaged crops.

In the worst hit Wangmo County, floods have claimed at least 33 lives with 24 other people missing, according to Li Baojun.

Wang Zhibin, secretary of the local Party committee, said 165,260 people were affected by the floods. More than 2,400 houses collapsed and 1,500 hectares of farmland were damaged.

The headquarters estimated that the flood disasters have caused 1.3 billion yuan (US$162 million) in accumulated economic losses in Guizhou.

The provincial observatory said the rainy season is expected to continue until mid-July, causing more regional flooding, according to Xinhua.

However, the northern, eastern and southern parts of the province are likely to suffer drought between mid-July and August, it said.

(China Daily June 20, 2006)