BEIJING, July 14: Severe flooding across five provinces in eastern and southern China has killed at least 104 people, left tens of thousands homeless and destroyed vast areas of cropland, officials confirmed by telephone today.

At least 34 people are reported dead in southwestern Guangxi province after heavy rains swept through the area last week, with raging floodwaters toppling tens of thousands of rudimentary dwellings and affecting the lives of at some three million residents of this largely poor rural province, officials said.

In neighbouring Guandong province, officials have yet to raise the number of deaths beyond the 41 people reported killed by last Friday, but said vast areas of rice-growing areas have been completely destroyed just prior to the harvest.

Residents of hardest-hit Qingyuan city, meanwhile, have yet to see relief after heavy flooding along the upper reaches of the Pearl river submerged the town more than ten days ago. Nearly two million residents were affected, with 147,000 trapped by flooding, a local official said by telephone.Economic losses were estimated at 1.3 billion yuan.

Another 16 deaths were reported in southeastern Jiangxi province, where flooding affected some 5.6 million people and caused economic losses worth some 2.9 billion yuan, the semi-official China News Service said.

In eastern Zhejiang province, at least ten people were killed when torrential rains dumped up to 350 mm of precipitation in some regions on July 6.

A local official put economic losses at three billion yuan.

Up to six million people in more than 30 small cities and counties were affected by flooding in Zhejiang, where production was halted in some 7,000 factories, the China daily said.

Three deaths were reported in southeastern Fujian province, where storms triggered landslides in the northern mountain areas, blocking rail lines, washing away livestock and grain stores and burying crops under layers of rock and debris. The province has suffered losses of at least 400 million yuan, a local official said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.