China: Flash floods leave 66 dead

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Sixty-six people have been killed and more than a half-million displaced by flooding and landslides that followed heavy rainfall in south China's Guangdong Province, according to Xinhua, China's state-run news agency.

Twelve people are missing, Xinhua reported Monday, citing local government.

More than 48,000 homes have been destroyed, 94,000 others collapsed, and some 294,000 hectares (728,450 acres) of cropland have been damaged, authorities told Xinhua. An estimated 9 million people have been affected by flooding, the news agency reported.

The hardest-hit areas were Heyuan, Shaoguan, Meizhou, Shanwei and Qingyan, Xinhua said. The rainstorm caused an economic loss of about 2.9 billion yuan, or $371 million.

Heavy rains have affected nearly half of China's provinces, according to Xinhua. The nation's Ministry of Civil Affairs said Monday that 591,000 people had been left homeless nationwide.