And more than 120 others were injured by the typhoon, the most serious tropical storm to batter Guangdong Province in 24 years, according to an official from the Guangdong Provincial Flood Prevention Headquarters Wednesday.

The direct economic losses caused by the typhoon, the 13th tropical storm to strike the Chinese coastal area this year have been calculated at more than 2 billion yuan (US$241 million).

The port cities of Shenzhen, Huizhou, Shanwei and Shantou in eastern coastal areas of Guangdong Province have been the hardest hit by the typhoon over the past two days.

In the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone that borders Hong Kong, at least 20 persons were killed and 98 others injured, including 20 seriously. Two people remain missing in the city.

A factory building which was under construction collapsed, claiming 16 lives and injuring 20 others in Bao'an District's Gongming Township in Shenzhen Wednesday.

Another 20 people were injured after the building collapsed, burying more than 40 workers at the construction site.

Electricity supplies were suspended in many areas of Shenzhen's Bao'an and Longgang districts, flooding many downtown streets.

More than 6,000 trees were also blown down, causing a heavy traffic jam in the city's business area.

And more than 3,000 passengers were stranded in Bao'an International Airport and Shenzhen Railway Station when many air and railway flights were cancelled or delayed.

In central China's Hubei Province, torrential rains hit the upper reaches of the Hanjiang River, causing floods that killed five people while leaving three others missing.

Widespread heavy rains hit parts of northwest China's Shaanxi Province and Yunxi County of Hubei Province earlier this week, causing landslides in several villages that killed three people, said Gao Xiang, an official at the local flood control headquarters.

China's Ministry of Finance allocated 20 million yuan (US$ 2.4 million) yesterday to assist the people who had suffered from flooding in Shaanxi Province.

In Ningshaan County, Shaanxi Province, around 6,000 students at 29 primary and middle schools could not go to school on September 1 at the start of the new school term as the disaster had destroyed classroom buildings.

Local government departments are making every effort to make proper schools operation as much as possible, local government sources said.

From early yesterday morning, rain hit flood-stricken areas once again in Shaanxi, with the wet weather due to last until September 7.

The latest statistics showed that by September 1, 67 out of Shaanxi's 108 counties were hit by the disaster with a population of 4.924 million, and 38 were killed and 34 disappeared in the flood and landslide.

Since the disaster took place, the Ministry of Civil Affairs had sent 6,500 tents to Shaanxi and 20 million yuan (US$2.41 million) of relief funds were also allocated by Ministries of Civil Affairs and Finance to temporarily house disaster-hit people in Shaanxi Province.

(China Daily September 4, 2003)