Two people were dead and 30 were missing amid torrential rain in one of the counties that was hardest-hit by the May 12 earthquake, local authorities said on Wednesday.

More than 300 people sustained injuries and about 6,000 were stranded or in dire need of help, according to the local committee in charge of post-quake restoration.

Downpours began to pound Beichuan County in Sichuan Province, southwest China, on Monday night, collapsing more than 1,100 houses since then.

Heavy rain, with maximum and average totals of 352.8 mm and 150 mm respectively, triggered mountain torrents, cave-ins and landslides.

Local party chiefs were supervising relief work.

Forecasters said the rain was expected to subside on Thursday.

The county seat of Beichuan was almost flattened in the devastating quake that left 69,227 people dead, 17,923 missing and 374,643 injured in Sichuan and its neighboring regions.

(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2008)