Many primary and secondary schools in Hainan, China's southernmost island province, canceled classes on Friday due to the worst flooding in decades.

Many roads were flooded in Haikou, capital of Hainan, and "we decided to close some schools for two days to ensure the safety of students and teachers," said Wang Yayan, deputy director of the education bureau of Haikou.

In Sanya City, a tourist destination, 29 schools were closed Friday and classes were expected to resume Sunday.

In Wanning and Qionghai cities, all primary and secondary schools were closed Friday and directors of the local education authorities said further suspension of classes would be considered if the rain continued.

The flooding, caused by the heaviest torrential rains in Hainan since 1961, has left at least one person dead and three people missing.

More than 210,000 people had been evacuated after about 1,160 villages were submerged by floodwaters.

The downpours which started on Sept. 30, had incurred 1.13 billion yuan (about US$169 million) in economic losses.

More than 18,000 soldiers have participated in flood-relief in more than ten regions badly hit by the flooding.

The provincial meteorology bureau said even though the rainfall had abated, rain was still likely to persist through to Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency October 7, 2010)