80m yuan to aid provinces in flood

The province's top officials decided at a meeting on Saturday to allocate 50 million yuan for relief purposes.

It is also ramping up efforts to reduce crop damage, strengthen safety nets for the affected and prevent flood-related epidemics.

Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday that farmers in Shanxi will face "grim difficulties" to harvest the autumn crops and plant wheat for winter because two rounds of rainfall are forecast for the next 10 days.

The province's agriculture and rural affairs bureau had sent a panel of experts to guide the harvest effort and arranged for machinery to drain waterlogged farmland and salvage the remaining crops, Xinhua reported.

"The rain has caused too much water in the soil," Gu Yong, director of the bureau's farming management division, told Xinhua. "Drainage and distribution of water is the main work at present, and the purpose is to save the crops."