A new round of heavy rains started to pound central and south China on Monday, further challenging flood-prevention work in affected areas, authorities said.

Central and south China were hit by heavy rains recently.

The China Meteorological Administration launched a fourth-level emergency response for major disasters on Monday to deal with the inclement weather.

As of Monday, rainstorms have killed at least 101 people in 11 provinces and regions, with more than 15 million people affected, China News Service reported.

The National Meteorological Center's chief forecaster Yang Guiming said the new round of rain began to hit the middle and lower valleys of the Yangtze River from Sunday night and is expected to end on Tuesday.

However, for drought-hit areas like Shandong province, the latest storms helped to alleviate the dry spell instead, said an official with the provincial flood-control and drought relief headquarters who only gave his surname as Li.

A number of other provinces spared from the current round of storms are also using the time to prepare for heavy rainfall that is forecast to fall from Thursday to Sunday.

Zhou Shengqi, a publicity official with Xupu county in Hunan province, said in a telephone interview on Monday that repair work on the county's 68 roads damaged in previous floods is speeding up. By Monday, traffic had resumed on almost 40 of the roads.

One road leading to a local primary school was repaired overnight and the school resumed classes on Monday, he said.

The county was severely damaged by floods triggered by heavy rains on May 12 and 13.

Water levels in rivers passing through the county have risen 6 m after 10 hours, destroying four bridges in one day, authorities said.

"Repair work is speeding up before the next round of rainfall. We also strengthened the monitoring of water levels in rivers and reservoirs, in order to issue alerts and evacuate villagers before floods," he said.

In Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, the three rainstorms last week have prompted local property management companies and businesses to take measures to prevent underground garages and goods from becoming submerged.