Floods have caused 144 deaths, with 26 still missing, in China this year up to Tuesday, figures from the country's Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters showed.

The latest floods have hit southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where torrential rains and floods starting from June 29 hit 11 cities, leaving three deaths and four still missing.

A flood crest passed the section of the Xijiang River in Wuzhou City, Guangxi. The water level at the Wuzhou hydrological station was 21.85 meters at midday Tuesday, 3.85 meters higher than the warning level.

In total, floods have hit 28 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, resulting in direct economic losses of 26.76 billion yuan (US$3.9 billion).

Heavy rain continued to havoc many parts of China from Monday to Tuesday.

Nanjing City, provincial capital of eastern Jiangsu Province, had an average rainfall of 50 mm from Monday to Tuesday morning, with the biggest of 136 mm in some areas, the provincial meteorological station said.

The downpours caused traffic jams on five major roads inundated in water as deep as 50 cm in downtown Nanjing.

In southwestern Guizhou Province, rainstorm-triggered landslide buried rails at Taiciqiao, Guiyang, the provincial capital, on Monday afternoon, according to railway authorities.

About 1,000 workers were still clearing rock debris and repairing the damaged tracks. The rail was expected to resume traffic Tuesday night.

In Yunnan Province, more than 1,200 people were evacuated after heavy rain hit the central and southern areas of the province over the weekend, the Yunnan Civil Affairs Department said.

More than 900 houses collapsed or were damaged, the department said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 8, 2009)