Floods and landslides caused by torrential rain killed at least 39 people and left 13 missing and tens of thousands homeless across China, reports said on Tuesday as tropical storm Rumbia brought more rain to southern areas, dpa reported.
Severe rainstorms hit nine regions of northern, eastern and southern China since Saturday, forcing the evacuation of more than 300,000 in three regions alone, the Ministry of Civil Affairs reported.
At least 18 people died and four were missing in the northern region of Inner Mongolia, while 10 died and five were missing in the eastern province of Anhui, the ministry said.
Local governments evacuated about 102,000 people in Anhui and 120,000 in the south-western province of Sichuan, where more than 5,600 houses were destroyed and some 10,000 damaged, it said.
About 876,000 people were affected and 104,000 evacuated from flood-hit areas in Sichuan's neighbouring region of Chongqing, as rain-triggered floods toppled houses and inundated farmland in Chongqing.
In Chongqing's worst-hit area, Tongnan county, soldiers used inflatable boats to rescue thousands of people stranded in flooded villages, the China Daily newspaper said.
As tropical storm Rumbia landed in the southern province of Guangdong early Tuesday, more than 800 tourists were stranded on an island in the neighbouring Guangxi region, where the storm forced the cancellation of trains and ferries, reports said.