Chinese asked to prepare for the worst

years, state media state yesterday.

Downpours were expected to drench the provinces of Guizhou and Jiangxi this week as they move inland, the China Daily newspaper said, citing the central meteorological office.

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"Disasters such as mountain floods and mud-flows caused by heavy rain in some regions are inevitable in the present time," Ding Liuqian, a flood control official from the Ministry of Water Resources, was quoted as saying.

"Regions along the Yellow River are predicted to face severe challenges due to possible heavy rainfall," he said. Those would include the provinces of Henan, Shandong and Shanxi.

Scores of people in China's southeast coast have been killed in floods and mudslides that have hit the region since late May.

Thousands of homes have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of residents have been evacuated, mostly in Guangdong and Fujian provinces.

While June-to-August mark the annual rainy season that sets off floods and landslides, storms this year arrived unusually early.

The Civil Affairs Ministry reported 96 storm-related deaths in May, with at least 59 more deaths reported since the beginning of the month.

The government said Monday that it has allocated 40 million yuan (US$5 million; euro 4 million) for flood victims and ordered emergency measures to keep open roads into flood-hit areas.

The disasters have caused 13 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion; euro1.26 billion) in direct economic losses, the government's Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters has said.