Six people have died, ten others are missing and more than one million have been affected by a fresh round of flooding that has hit northwest China's Shaanxi Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and a drought that continues to cripple eastern Jiangxi Province.

Torrential rain hit Shaanxi's Shangluo City from Saturday night until Sunday night, leading to floods in six counties, local government said on Monday.

Six people were killed, ten others are missing and more than 400,000 people were affected by the floods, which inundated cropland and caused the collapse of houses, the government said.

The floods also forced the evacuation of approximately 13,800 people, it said.

Continuous heavy rain also struck Xinjiang's Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili from Friday to Sunday causing the Ili River to flood in different parts of the prefecture, local authorities said on Monday.

Initial investigations show that nearly 20,000 residents have been affected by the floods, which flattened houses, submerged cropland and destroyed roads and bridges.

The disasters have resulted in 14.13 million yuan (US$1.86 million) in losses and the water level of the river is still rising.

In east China's Jiangxi Province, a month-long drought has left 820,000 people and 460,000 head of livestock with drinking water shortages.

The drought has also affected 394,700 hectares of farmland, 31,300 hectares of which were ruined.

The province has invested 100 million yuan (US$13.16 million) in the disaster relief effort.

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2007)