Heavy rains have left at least 66 people dead, 66 missing and made more than 30,000 homeless since the beginning of June in southern Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guizhou and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Xinhua news agency cited the Sichuan province deputy governor as saying that landslides triggered by rainstorms killed 46 people and left 66 missing.

In Jiangxi province, heavy rains forced the relocation of 17,500 people and floods destroyed 180 homes, causing an estimated loss of 50 million USD.

Landslides triggered by heavy rains had killed 17 people in Hunan province and forced 13,300 people to relocate to avoid floods and landslides.

In Guizhou province, heavy rains from July 23 to 28 killed three people and submerged the homes of 490,000 others.

The Chinese news agency also said Officials from the Guangxi provincial Department of Land Resources have identified more than 1,800 high-risk sites where potential landslides pose a threat to 190,000 people and around 1.5 billion CNY worth of properties.

China ’s Meteorological Observatory has warned of further heavy rains in south Sichuan , west Jiangxi , south and north Hunan and southeast Guangxi until the end of July./.