Death toll from storms in southwestern and central parts of China in the last two days has risen to 39 as a missing person in Guizhou Province was confirmed dead.

A violent storm in the southwestern Chongqing Municipality since Wednesday had left 29 people dead and one missing, said the Ministry of Civil Affairs Thursday.

More than 70,000 people were relocated in Chongqing due to the extreme weather, the ministry said on its website.

The gales, torrential rain and hail that lashed the city from Wednesday night to Thursday morning had also left 190 people injured as of 5:00 PM Thursday, according to the municipal meteorological bureau.

The Chongqing municipal civil affairs bureau has sent 300 tents, 1,000 quilts and 400 emergency lights to the affected regions.

In addition, the municipal health authorities have dispatched two teams of medical workers to Dianjiang and Liangping counties.

The municipal government also issued more than 12 million yuan (US$1.76 million) in disaster relief to Dianjiang, Liangping, Pengshui counties and Fuling District.

In neighboring Guizhou Province, six people are dead and three others missing after landslides Wednesday night.

The rain-triggered landslides buried eight houses in three villages in Magu Township, Hezhang County, the county government said.

Six bodies had been recovered by 8:00 PM. The local government previously said five people were dead and four others missing.

The county government had ordered watercourses to be cleared, dikes to be reinforced and flood discharge tunnels built to prevent further disasters.

Heavy rain from Wednesday night to Thursday morning left four people dead and one missing in Xinhua County in the central province of Hunan, and six others missing in Shaoguan City, south China's Guangdong Province.

In the eastern province of Jiangxi, torrential rains forced more than 3,500 people to evacuate their homes in Xunwu, Dingnan and Longnan counties by Thursday noon, said a spokesman for the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

In the hardest-hit county of Xunwu, flood waters covered 164 hectares of crops and disrupted traffic on seven roads.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the State Disaster Relief Commission have sent emergency teams to the disaster-hit areas in Chongqing to oversee relief work.

The ministry issued a grade IV emergency response alert Thursday afternoon, requiring a 24-hour alert, daily damage reports, and provision of relief funds and materials within 48 hours.

(Xinhua News Agency May 7, 2010)