At least 24 have died since heavy rainstorms began pounding east China's Jiangxi Province in April, local authorities said Monday.

About 42,000 residents have been relocated after the rainstorms lashed more than 60 counties in Jiangxi's 11 cities, Zhong Qimao, deputy chief of the Jiangxi provincial civil affairs department, said.

The rainstorms also damaged 173,500 hectares of crops and toppled 2,435 houses, causing direct economic losses of 1.24 billion yuan (about $182 million), Zhong said.

The provincial government has allocated 6.1 million yuan for relief work and received donations of 3 million yuan, he added.

The death toll from strong gales, fierce rainstorms, ice- and snow-melt floods this year has climbed to 94, Zhang Zhitong, executive deputy director of the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, said Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency May 10, 2010)