Continuous strong rains with hail and gales had left 115 people dead and 21 missing in southern China as of Monday, latest figures from the Ministry of Civil Affairs show.

Since early May, strong rainstorms in the southern regions have triggered floods and mud-rock flows, swollen rivers, burst dikes, threatened reservoirs and damaged highways, bridges and power facilities.

As of Monday, some 685,000 people in 241 cities and counties of 12 provinces had been evacuated, the ministry said in a notice.

The rainstorms were responsible for the ruin of 78,000 houses and 122,100 hectares of crops, causing direct economic losses worth 15.25 billion yuan (US$2.23 billion), according to the notice.

The civil affairs and finance ministries have jointly allocated an emergency fund of 172 million yuan to three worst-hit provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangdong.

The fund will be mainly used for evacuation of locals and the reconstruction of damaged houses.

The provincial civil affairs department of southern Hunan said Saturday that classes for 65,000 schoolchildren have been suspended in a county in case of floods and other disasters.

(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2010)