Beijing (dpa) - The death toll from three days of floods in southern China has risen to at least 170, with 126 reported missing and about 9 million people affected in four provinces, state media said Monday.

In the worst-hit province of Hunan, at least 92 people have died since Friday as typhoon Bilis brought torrential rains that caused floods and landslides in many areas, state television said.

In the latest reported deaths, at least 14 people died when a swollen river flooded a coal mine and destroyed pit-head buildings near Hunan's Hengyang city on Saturday.

Seven technicians who were undertaking rescue work were among the dead at Shenjiawan colliery, state media said.

At least 31,000 homes were destroyed in Hunan and about 50,000 people were cut off by floods Sunday, with more than 100 people reported missing.

Another 43 people died and 24 were missing in the southeastern province of Fujian, where Bilis made landfall Friday.

Thirty-three people died in Guangdong province, which lies between Hunan and Fujian, and two people died and one was reported missing in the Guangxi region.

Officials believed the floods were the worst in a century along stretches of Hunan's Xiangjiang river, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Torrential rain began falling Friday evening as the tropical storm, downgraded from a typhoon, brought storms to many parts of southern and eastern China.

Up to 450 millimetres of rain fell on Hunan's Leiyang city, which lies on the Xiangjiang, within a period of just over 30 hours through 8 a.m. Sunday.

The water level in the Leishui river, a major tributary of the Xiangjiang, rose by more than 10 metres from Friday to Sunday, raching a record high.

At least 349 people were injured in floods and landslides in Hunan, earlier reports said Sunday.

About 40,000 people were cut off by floods in Hengyang and Chenzhou cities, and the Hunan flood control headquarters sent 140 boats to rescue people cut off by high water.

The floods also cut the main railway from Guangzhou, the Guangdong provincial capital, to Beijing, which passes through Hunan.

About 20,000 southbound passengers were stranded Sunday at Wuchang railway station in Hubei province, north of Hunan.

At least 5,000 more passengers were waiting at the main railway station in Changsha, the Hunan provincial capital, reports said.

Officials evacuated at least 522,000 people, called tens of thousands of ships back to port and cancelled flights as Bilis hit Fujian and neighbouring Zhejiang province Friday.

Bilis slammed the Philippines and Taiwan before reaching China. It killed at least 14 people and left seven missing in the Philippines, and killed at least four people in Taiwan.
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