China allocated 170 million yuan (US$24.89 million) in flood-control subsidies to its rainstorm-hit southern regions, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday.

The ministry said in a statement on its website that the subsidies from the central budget are used to support disaster-control work in southern areas where water conservancy facilities suffered in heavy rainstorms.

The money will go to 13 provinces or cities in southern China. Guangxi was included, said the ministry.

Torrential rains and floods hit southern China from the end of June, and have battered 12 provinces, killing 75 people and leaving another 13 missing and 938,000 homeless as of July 5, said the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Sunday.

More rainstorms were expected across a large part of northeastern China, and will likely continue to wreak havoc in the southern regions from Monday to Wednesday, forecast the National Meteorological Center on Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2009)