More than 1,100 people have been displaced and 380,000 affected by rainstorms on Friday and Saturday in central China's Hubei Province, local government said on Wednesday.

Eight counties in the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture were hit by the storm with rainfall reaching 142 millimeters in Jianshi County.

The prefectural government said Wednesday that 1,114 people had been displaced, but no casualties have been reported.

The heavy rain, the worst in two decades for the area, destroyed 511 homes and damaged 3,100 others. It triggered flash floods and landslides, causing collapses of sections of many highways in the prefecture.

The storm also affected about 20,000 hectares of cropland and completely destroyed 5,200 hectares.

The prefecture reported economic losses of 228 million yuan (US$ 32.5 million), the Enshi government said.

Other parts of Hubei were also hit by the rainstorms, which left two people dead. The provincial government had earlier said a motorcyclist was swept away when passing over a bridge and another was killed by lightning.

Nearly 830,000 people in 16 counties or cities in Hubei had been affected by the storms, which caused flash floods in some areas, it said.

A massive landslide in Xingshan County caused a temporary evacuation of 147 villagers. Around 900 teaching staff and pupils of a nearby primary school had to move to a middle school for classes due to the threat of further landslides.

(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2008)