Twenty-seven people are dead and 24 are missing after new rainstorms hit many parts of China, according to Ministry of Civil Affairs. Teams have been dispatched to Shaanxi to help local governments with disaster relief work.

Twenty-seven people are dead and 24 are missing after new rainstorms hit many parts of China, according to government sources.

In the worst-hit northwestern Shaanxi Province, 16 people died and 14 are missing after downpours hit the central and southern areas of the province from Saturday to Monday, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Danfeng county reported a precipitation of 295 millimeters in 24 hours.

Floods, landslides and mud flows triggered by the heavy rain hit 12 counties, leveling 8,500 homes and requiring the evacuation of 35,000 people.

The ministry said it had dispatched teams to Shaanxi to help local governments with disaster relief work.

In Inner Mongolia region, lightning and heavy rain hit Araxan Left Banner on Saturday, leaving three dead and three missing.

Rainstorms also hit Yunxi county in central Hubei Province with a precipitation of 150 millimeters early on Sunday, triggering flash floods that killed one construction worker and swept away three others on a highway site, the provincial communications department said.

A search for the missing is underway and more than 380 workers along the highway have been evacuated, it said.

Landslides and mud-rock flows also hit a county in southwest China's Guizhou Province on Sunday night, leaving four dead and three missing, the provincial flood control authorities said.

The latest rainstorms and hail caused two deaths in northern Shanxi province, one death in eastern Anhui province and left one missing in central Henan province.

The Central Meteorological Center forecast rainstorms on Tuesday to hit Beijing, Tianjin and northeastern China, while southwest and central China province will also experience showers or heavy rain.

Natural disasters, including floods, landslides and lightning, have killed more than 700 people in China this year.

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2007)