China's weather forecasters were urged to enhance weather monitoring and provide more accurate forecast as southern parts of the country were hit by rainstorm worst in a century.

The current weather prediction was not accurate enough to help disaster control and there were still problems with short-term weather forecast, Zheng Guoguang, director of China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said at a tele-conference on Saturday.

He asked all meteorological departments to intensify weather monitoring against extreme weather, especially in the major disaster-prone regions, and improve the forecast accuracy.

Continuous downpours have lashed 12 southern provincial-level regions since June 7, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and Jiangxi. Some of these regions were hit by heaviest rainfall recorded over a century.

Rainstorm-triggered floods have caused heavy losses of life and property. According to the latest statistics, the death toll had risen to 176 as of Wednesday, with 52 still missing.

(Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2008)