Rain-swollen rivers continued to rage across several provinces yesterday, threatening more floods.

Since last Thursday, at least 97 people have been killed and 41 are missing in flood-battered Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Hunan across south, southeast and central China, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

More than 16 million people have been affected by flooding and landslides with about 1.4 million displaced. Financial losses have been put at more than 11.3 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion).

In the worst affected areas, disaster-relief authorities stepped up their efforts to evacuate people to safety and strengthen dykes.

By yesterday more than 570,000 people had been evacuated in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The death toll stands at 27, reports Xinhua.

The Xijiang River was 1.2 meters above the danger level in Wuzhou, where people from low-lying areas were evacuated on Wednesday.

"More than 100,000 people and soldiers are now bracing themselves for the worst peak of the floods on the river as it passes Guangxi," a source with the State Flood-Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said.

In Guangdong, the death toll reached 40 with 10 people missing, according to sources in the Guangdong Provincial Flood-Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

About 600,000 people there have been affected by the disaster and thousands of homes destroyed or damaged. Losses in the region are estimated at 500 million yuan (US$60 million).

The flood situation has become worse as the water levels of the Xijiang, Beijiang, Dongjiang and Hanjiang rivers, the major tributaries of the Pearl River, have continued to rise, surpassing their danger marks.

Traffic in many cities was paralysed after sections of highways and railways were breached by the floods.

The Beijing-Kowloon Railway has been out of action since Wednesday; and more than 4,000 railway workers and soldiers are now working day and night to help repair the Huizhou-Longchuan section of the line.

"The Guangdong Section of the Beijing-Kowloon Railway will not be able to return to normal in the near future," said an executive from the Guangdong Railway Group Corporation

(China Daily June 24, 2005)