Friday, July 21 2006 11:50 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: At least 228 people were killed, hundreds missing and over 35 million affected by flooding and natural disasters triggered by the tropical storm Bilis, one of the worst to hit China.

The death toll in the southern province of Guangdong rose to 63, while a total of 30 were confirmed dead with three others missing in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local officials said.

The number of victims stood at 92 in Hunan and 43 in Fujian provinces respectively.

At least 156 people are still missing and 26.45 million have been affected in China's southern and eastern provinces, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said yesterday.

The heavy rains and floods have toppled 212,000 houses, damaged 287,000 houses and forced 2.95 million local residents to move to safer places.

More than 6.68 million Guangdong residents were affected and 1.08 million have been relocated. The direct economic losses have reached more than 1.1 billion US dollars, local officials said.

In neighbouring Guangxi, more than 6.53 million people were affected by the rainstorms, flooding and mudslides, which incurred over 2.75 million US dollars in economic losses.

Typhoon Bilis, which was downgraded into a tropical storm when it landed in China last Friday, triggered heavy rainfall and serious floods in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi.

As Bilis dies down, the storm-ravaged regions will experience a major heat wave over the coming week, according to local meteorological stations.