About 20 people were trapped after their homes collapsed in rain-triggered floods early Friday in east China's Jiangxi Province, the local government said.

Most of these villagers, all from Xiushui County in the northern part of Jiangxi Province, were trapped on roofs and inside a local temple, the county's flood control and drought relief office said in a press release.

The local government has sent rescuers and yachts to their rescue, it said.

Torrential rain hit Xiushui County from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m., drowning several townships and toppling many homes. The maximum precipitation in some areas totaled 228 mm in the five hours, the document said.

As the downpour continued Friday, the local flood control and drought relief office has demanded round-the-clock surveillance of local reservoirs.

All residents in the lower reaches must be evacuated once precipitation tops 100 mm, it said.

The latest round of rain-triggered floods starting in early June have killed 54 people across China, according to the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

A family of five were confirmed dead after torrential rains washed away their home in Jiangxi's Shangrao City Tuesday.

In the hard-hit southwestern province of Guizhou, floods have killed 21 people and left 32 missing over the past few days, forcing nearly 100,000 people to evacuate.