Heavy rain kills 56 in Central, South China

BEIJING -- Heavy rain has killed 56 people, leaving a further 22 missing, in 11 Chinese provinces since June 29, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Tuesday.

A total of 27,000 houses collapsed and 37,000 were damaged due to floods, landslides and hailstorms in the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the ministry said.

Direct economic losses were estimated at 25.27 billion yuan (3.72 billion U.S. dollars).

On Monday, the central government allocated 1.88 billion yuan to 20 provinces for disaster relief.

The ministry and China National Commission for Disaster Reduction have sent teams and materials to assist disaster-hit areas in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guizhou.

About 3,000 armed police have been sent to the flood-fighting front line in Hunan. Early reports said that the water level at the Changsha monitoring station in the Xiangjiang River, a major Yangtze tributary, reached a record high of 39.51 meters early Monday, higher than the previous record of 39.18 meters set by a massive flood in 1998.