Rescuers transfer stranded villagers at the flooded Paixing Village of Zaizhong Township in Yongxin County, east China's Jiangxi Province, June 9, 2019. Heavy rainfall swept Jiangxi in the past two days. In Paixing, 116 stranded people have been rescued and relocated to safe places. (Photo: Xinhua)

Torrential rains will continue to hit southern China after a flood caused by rainstorms has affected more than 1.42 million people and caused economic losses of 2.6 billion yuan ($367 million) in Jiangxi Province. 

Since June 6, heavy rains have soaked the northeastern and middle part of Jiangxi, triggering severe flooding. As of Monday morning, 1.42 million people from 56 counties in nine cities, including Ji'an and Shangrao, had been impacted, according to a statement sent by the emergency management department of Jiangxi to the Global Times on Monday. 

About 198,000 people who need emergency shelter have been relocated. Some 110,500 hectares of crops were affected, more than 3,000 houses collapsed or damaged, with direct economic losses amounting to 2.6 billion yuan, the statement said. Previous reports said the flood had killed six and with one person missing.

A publicity department official, surnamed Li from the provincial emergency management department, told the Global Times on Monday that there was less rainfall in the province on Monday and the focus of the government is on disaster relief. "After the heavy rainfall, some areas have witnessed severe geological disasters, such as mudslides. Damaged roads and farm land are in urgent need of repair," Li said. 

China National Commission for Disaster Reduction and Ministry of Emergency Management activated a Tier IV rescue mission in response to the disaster in Jiangxi on Saturday. Tier IV is on the lowest on the four tier scale.

The ministry had dispatched a team to the disaster area, offering assistance to local governments. It has allocated 2,000 tents, more than 10,000 folding beds and over 20,000 blankets to local victims and their families.

Videos and pictures circulated online showed that the flood had inundated various local communities, houses, school and vehicles, preventing people from getting to work and going to schools. 

A video by the Xinhua News Agency showed a relocation venue in the Shanxi village of Yongxin, where about 300 villagers were relocated and provided with free food, accommodation and medical assistance. 

A resident from Ji'an told the Global Times on Monday that the flood has basically swamped the first floor of the building at the Bailuzhou Middle School, and continued on Monday. The school has been shut for several days.

Heavy rain will continue in parts of Fujian, Hunan and Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces on Tuesday, according to the meteorological department on Monday.

In East China's Fujian Province, more than 75,900 people from 19 counties in three cities were affected, leading to direct economic loss of 269 million yuan. Houses and corps were damaged and some 12 industrial plants shut down due to the rain, China News Service reported on Monday. 

South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is another hardest hit province, where in the city of Guilin alone, the rains caused the deaths of five people and one person is missing. Local water, power and internet facilities have been severely damaged, the report said. 

Intense rainfall in Jiangxi has also delayed several trains passing the area, reports said. 

It is regular rainy season for those regions because of the temperate continental monsoon climate, Zhang Mingying, a meteorologist at the Beijing Meteorological Service, told the Global Time on Monday. Rains normally move from southern to the eastern part of the nation from May to June and will move northward around July. 

Due to differences in terrain and temperatures, some areas in Jiangxi face particularly heavy rain and possible flooding, Zhang noted.