More than 100 killed in Chinese downpours

More than 100 people have died in landslides and floods fuelled by seasonal downpours in southern China.

In the north, farmers hastened to replant shriveled crops as thunderstorms eased severe drought.

Rescue officials reported that 66 people were killed and 3,198 injured since early May in landslides and flooding in the mountainous Guangxi region.

Reports in the Beijing Morning Post and other media said that about five million people were affected and that 15,800 homes had collapsed in floods.

In neighbouring Yunnan province, six people were killed and 35 injured in rain-related disasters, including the partial collapse of a steel and concrete bridge over the Yuan river in Yuxi county, 60 miles south of the provincial capital of Kunming.

Earlier, at least 29 others were reported dead due to flooding and landslides in other southern Chinese provinces as summer rains intensified. More flooding is expected when summer rains peak next month.

Meanwhile, violent thunderstorms brought heavy rains and some relief from chronic drought in northern China, but meteorologists warned that dry conditions would persist.

State media reports said farmers are lining up to get seeds and seedlings to replant parched crops after several days of intermittent heavy showers.

In arid northern China, many areas had gone 100 days without rain.

The drought, the worst in at least a decade, has intensified competition among farmers, industries and cities for water, prompting tighter regulation of the precious resource.

The Beijing Youth Daily showed rowboats sitting in drying mud on the banks of the Songhua River, which it said was at its lowest level ever.