Rain has been forecast for Friday and Saturday in parts of southern China, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said.

Heavy rain would sweep eastern and southern Fujian, central and eastern Guangdong, western and southern Guangxi, southwestern Guizhou and southern Yunnan, the NMC said. Some of those regions would see torrential rain.

Southern China, particularly Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces, received heavy rain over the past few days. This had left at least 57 dead as of Thursday night.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters launched a level-three emergency response plan on Wednesday to address possible flooding problems.

Under the plan, three inspection teams were set up to supervise the flood relief work in Guizhou, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces.

E Jingping, secretary general of the headquarters, urged local governments to strengthen their monitoring of the floods and act to avert possible dangers.

In Sichuan Province, of the 379 "highly dangerous" reservoirs, 50 had been emptied on Friday, taking the total number to 81. The rest of the reservoirs were accelerating discharging to lower their respective waterlines.

"The strong torrential rains and the aftershocks could trigger other massive geological disasters in the areas," warned Xu Shaoshi, Minister of Land Resources on Friday. He urged local authorities to establish an effective monitoring system, discover hidden dangers and take precautions.

(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2008)