New flooding triggered by continuing torrential rain has killed at least 30 people in east China's Anhui Province and was associated with the firing of a Party official who disappeared from his post, authorities reported yesterday.

Heavy rain buffeted southwest Anhui and the northern reaches of the Huaihe River, with precipitation exceeding 100 millimeters.

Huang Qi, who lives in a village in Anhui Province's Mengwa flood diversion area, gets around in a small wooden boat on July 15, 2007. The Mengwa zone was inundated when water was released from the Wangjiaba Reservoir on the Huaihe River. [Xinhua]

By 8am yesterday, 60,000 houses had collapsed, 585,000 people were forced to relocate and 300,000 people were suffering from a shortage of drinking water. Economic losses now total 9.17 billion yuan (US$120 million), provincial disaster relief authorities said.

Anhui's civil affairs department has allocated 5.3 million yuan for disaster relief work.

Government sources also said yesterday that an Anhui Party official was removed from office after he couldn't be found during a crucial stage in the flood battle.

Zhang Yunbin, who was Party secretary of Zhenxing Village in Yingshang County, was fired after officials learned he was "not directing work at the flood front," an official with the county discipline inspection committee said.

On Thursday night, discipline officials went to the village, where they saw the deputy Party secretary directing farmers to stack sand bags to prevent flooding. Zhang was absent and his cell phone was turned off.

"Zhang left his station at a crucial time, and this had a very negative impact on the flood prevention work," the discipline official said.

He did not say what Zhang was doing at the time.

Meanwhile, the water level at Wangjiaba, a crucial hydrological station along the upper stretches of the Huaihe, reached dangerous levels yesterday.

When the flood peak arrived, eight buffer zones along the Huaihe were commandeered as overflow areas. The zones included the Mengwa flood reserve near Anhui's Fuyang, resulting in the evacuation of 157,800 residents before water was discharged to relieve conditions in the river.

Authorities said a new flood peak is likely to pass Wangjiaba late today, and they may have to discharge more water from the station into the Mengwa area.

By Friday, the heavy rain and flooding in central and south China had left at least 403 people dead and 105 missing and caused the relocation of 3.17 million people.

For many, there's no relief in sight. Rain will continue in most parts of the country over the next 10 days, the China Meteorological Administration forecast yesterday.

The rain will further swell the Huaihe River, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Sichuan Basin and Yungui Plateau in southwest China, the CMA said.

In the next three days, torrential rain, thunderstorms and hail are expected in the eastern part of northwest China, the Sichuan Basin, northeastern Inner Mongolia and southern Gansu.

Premier Wen Jiabao asked the nation to be prepared for a further worsening of the flood situation as the country enters the main rainy season.