A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT: Residents of Liuzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, wait at windows on the second floor of a house for rescuers to arrive on June 13

Millions have been forced to flee their homes in south China amid floods caused by heavy rainfall since the end of May.

On June 13, in the downtown area of Liuzhou City in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, people left by boat, crossing a river that flowed past a neat row of residential buildings. The amphibious city sank further beneath a growing river as rain lashed it with meteorological observation stations recording 100 mm to 354.9 mm of rainfall from 8 p.m. on June 11 to 8 a.m. on June 13.

In Dongguan City in Guangxi's neighboring Guangdong Province, overnight from June 12 to 13, meteorological observation stations recorded 219.4 mm in just three hours, a new record in the city. In Shenzhen City, Guangdong, between the evening of June 12 and the morning of June 14, about 200 mm to 400 mm of rain fell, causing the worst floods in a century.

China has experienced an abnormal rainy season. Usually from the early June, the rain belt caused by moist air over the Pacific stays in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, causing continual rainfall in that area, while places further south, controlled by a subtropical high-pressure belt, have high temperatures, but remain largely dry. This year, the subtropical high-pressure belt is visibly weaker than that of a normal year.

"Strong rainfall has been plaguing south China since the end of May. As the major rain belt is still stable there, the concern of floods in this area is particularly grim this year," said He Lifu, Chief Weather Broadcaster at the National Meteorological Center, during an interview with Shanghai Morning Post, on June 16. He said he could not see an end to the torrential rains that had lasted for about 20 days.

Guangdong experienced the worst flood in decades on June 16 when two converging rivers in the Pearl River Delta swelled with rainwater.

The runoff in the Xijiang River was 46,800 cubic meters per second and in the Beijiang River, 15,200 cubic meters per second before they converged in Foshan City, according to the Guangdong provincial headquarters for flood control and drought relief. The office said these amounts were far higher than normal.

The danger of serious flooding was made worse by the pull from the moon, which was rising to its most powerful point in the month on June 18, posing a threat to river embankments across the delta, experts said.

The Guangdong provincial flood control headquarters on June 16 ordered relevant government departments to reinforce river embankments in nine cities, including Guangzhou, and to prepare to evacuate people in danger.

The Pearl River Delta is a major manufacturing base. Guangdong posted a gross domestic product of more than 3.07 trillion yuan ($438 billion) in 2007, ranking first on the Chinese mainland.

Recent rainstorms and floods have affected 5.76 million people in 17 cities in Guangdong, including 20 deaths and eight missing persons.

Continuous downpours cut off seven national highways and 68 provincial ones in Guangdong, causing an economic loss of 600 million yuan ($85.7 million). Seven provincial highways remained paralyzed on June 16 while the others had been repaired.

At least 57 people had been killed and 1.27 million people relocated as rainstorms and floods ravaged nine provinces and regions in south China and affected 17.87 million people, authorities said on June 15.

Guangxi on June 16 also ordered two cities along the Xijiang River to reinforce embankments as heavy rains continued.

More than 70,000 people were relocated on June 16 in Guangxi, bringing the total number of relocated people to 916,000. More than 7.5 million people had been affected as of 6 p.m. on June 16, the regional civil affairs department said.

Storms hit 12 towns in southern parts of Guizhou Province on June 15 and 16, damaging crops and more than 400 houses. According to records of the 89 meteorological stations across Guangxi, there were 148 torrential rains in the first half of June, the highest in 57 years.

Hunan Province to the north of Guangdong claimed a victory in fighting the first flood in the province this year on June 16 as the flood crest passed the provincial capital of Changsha safely, despite two monitoring stations recording the highest water level in history.

One person died and another was missing following Hunan's flood, which also toppled houses and cut off roads.