Heavy rainstorms and ensuing mountain torrents in three Chinese provinces have so far claimed 68 lives and left 62 missing, according to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Thursday.

By 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, about 217,100 hectares of farmland had been destroyed and more than 36,000 houses devastated in Hunan in central China, and Sichuan and Guizhou in southwest China.

The floods have left 47 dead and 53 missing in Hunan, 17 dead and four missing in Guizhou, and four dead and five missing in Sichuan, the headquarters said.

Heavy rains have been pelting down on the three provinces since Tuesday. In the city of Huaihua, Hunan province, the 24-hour precipitation recorded was 201mm in Xinshao County.

Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, also the chief of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, ordered governments at all levels in the disaster-hit areas to quickly organize the disaster relief work, relocate those who've been rendered homeless, and safeguard the local reservoirs.

Hui asked the local governments to further improve their emergency plans against the mountain torrents, and the monitoring and forecasting of weather changes.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters issued an urgent notice on Wednesday, ordering all flood control departments to be on high alert.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Affairs also kicked off the allocation of emergency relief funds and materials.

A working team composed of officials from several ministries, headed by Vice Minister of Civil Affairs Jia Zhibang, is rushing to Hunan to help with disaster relief work.

In Hunan alone, the flooding has affected about 4.98 million people in eight cities including Shaoyang, Loudi, Yiyang, Huaihua and Tujia-Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Xiangxi in Hunan, cutting off power, traffic and telecoms services in many villages.

Mountain torrents as a result of the heavy rains have devastated about 60 villages in six townships in Xinshao and Shaodong counties, affecting about 60,000 people and destroying 3,560 houses, according to the latest figures from Shaoyang Municipal Headquarters for Flood Control and Drought Relief.

The floods also hit more than 231,000 villagers in Xupu County in Huaihua, washing away 1,300 heads of livestock and destroying 8,200 hectares of farmland and 37 dikes, according to Huaihua Municipal Headquarters for Flood Control and Drought Relief.

The Hunan provincial government has earmarked 5 million yuan (about US$602,409) to help rebuild the affected areas and the Ministry of Communications has allocated 4 million yuan (US$481,927) for disaster relief.

(Xinhua News Agency June 3, 2005)