Aerial photo taken on June 4, 2022 shows a view of the Rongjiang River after heavy rainfall in Rongshui Miao Autonomous County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. (HUANG XIAOBANG / XINHUA)

BEIJING - China on Friday allocated 360 million yuan ($53.74 million) in advance from its central natural disaster relief funds to help local governments with flood control and disaster relief, the Ministry of Emergency Management said Saturday.

Some 340 million yuan was earmarked for 12 southern provincial-level regions, including Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou, to help them with the search, rescue and relocation of affected people, emergency treatment, secondary disaster detection and the repair of damaged houses, the ministry said.

Some 340 million yuan was earmarked for 12 southern provincial-level regions, including Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou, to help them with the search, rescue and relocation of affected people

The remaining 20 million yuan was allocated to northeast China's Liaoning province to solve the water shortage there.

Several rounds of rainstorms have battered the country's southern areas this year, triggering floods, landslides and mud-rock flows.

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In May, floods damaged over 1,000 houses and affected 2.52 million people in 15 provincial-level regions, leaving 10 people dead or missing, according to the ministry.

Floods caused a direct economic loss of 5.09 billion yuan last month, up 35 percent from the average during the same period over the past five years.

In Jiangxi province, more than 1.1 million residents were affected by torrential rain and rain-induced floods from May 28 to 4 pm Friday, local authorities said.

The province initiated its level IV flood-control emergency response starting at 6 pm Saturday, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

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The extreme weather has caused direct economic losses of 2.65 billion yuan (about $400 million) after destroying farmland and houses. A total of around 83,000 people were evacuated during the period.

The meteorological department predicts that Jiangxi will see a rainstorm moving from north to south from June 12 to 14, with heavy downpours in some areas.