The number of people killed in the tropical storm Bilis and from disasters sparked off by the weather has increased to 228.

The death toll in the southern province of Guangdong rose to 63 and 30 were confirmed dead with three others missing in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local authorities said on Thursday.

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

At least 156 people are still missing and 26.45 million people have been affected in some way or another in China's southern and eastern provinces the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Wednesday.

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

More than 6.68 million Guangdong residents were affected and 1.08 million have been relocated. Direct economic losses have reached 9 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion), according to Guangdong flood control headquarters.

Four official working teams and five medical detachments rushed to the flood-stricken areas to aid the disaster relief operation.

Workers had repaired most of the telecommunication networks by Thursday. The loss of the telephone service affected more than 260,000 people and resulted in economic losses of 140 million yuan (US$17.5 million).

In neighboring Guangxi more than 6.53 million people were affected by rainstorms, flooding and mudslides. It's estimated that economic losses are over 2.2 billion yuan (US$2.75 million). The local government has provided more than 5 million yuan (US$625,000) in disaster relief and dispatched 10 working groups to flood hit areas.

The central government has earmarked 75 million yuan (US$9.4 million) to assist Guangxi combat extreme natural disasters. This is in addition to the 41-million-yuan (US$5.1 million) disaster relief fund provided by the Ministry of Civil Affairs during this year's flooding season.

Bilis landed in China last Friday and triggered very heavy rainfalls and serious floods in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi.

As the power of Bilis declines the storm hit regions will experience a major heat wave over the coming week, according to local meteorological stations. Fujian issued a warning on Thursday when the peak temperature was over 38 degrees Celsius.

(Xinhua News Agency July 21, 2006)