Soldiers clean up floating debris along the upper reaches of a river on Sunday in Gaozhou, Guangdong, to safeguard a local reservoir from possible threat. Floods and mudslides triggered by Typhoon Fanapi caused heavy death tolls in the province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Some 128,000 people in Guangdong province had to be evacuated, with 16,000 houses completely destroyed, sources with the Guangdong provincial government said.

In total, 1.56 million people in nine cities in western and eastern parts of Guangdong have been affected by the floods and landslides.

As of Sunday, some 24 roads in the western parts of Guangdong, many of which are connected to villages hard hit by the floods and landslides, are still blocked.

"We are organizing all possible forces to repair the roads. We have assured people affected by the disaster that they will move to new and safe houses by the end of this year," Tang said.

After Fanapi, one or two more strong typhoons are expected to again batter the province this year, according to Qiu Dehua, director of the Guangdong provincial flood control and drought relief center.