Floods that have swept across China since late last week had claimed 536 lives and left 137 missing by 4 PM yesterday, the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said.

Twenty-two provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have been hit, causing economic losses of 20.4 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion).

More than 44.3 million people have been affected and more than 31 million hectares of crops damaged.

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the provinces of Guangdong and Fujian have suffered the worst, according to the office.

In Guangxi, floods have damaged 91 reservoirs and 53.4 kilometers of dikes. In Wuzhou City, river water levels on the Xijiang rose to 26.75 meters when the flood crest came at 12:00 AM on Thursday, 9.45 meters above the warning line.

Wuzhou and some other cities in Guangxi have decided to postpone senior high school entrance examinations as a result.

Rainstorms in Guangdong caused the roadbed of the Longchuan-Huizhou section of the Beijing-Kowloon Railway to collapse on Tuesday. Transportation has not yet been resumed and repair work is still underway.

Torrential rains and ensuing floods in the northern part of Fujian forced Xiamen Railway Station to suspend all services after some tracks going through the city were rendered unusable.

A task force has been dispatched by the State Council to floods-hit areas in Fujian to direct local rescue and relief work.

Jia Zhibang, head of the task force and Vice Minister of Civil Affairs, warned local officials to keep alert for possible mud and rock flows and landslides.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2005)