Torrential rains in China's south and southwest have killed at least 37 people and destroyed more than 2,500 homes, the government said Thursday.

Firemen transfer trapped residents with rubber boat in Daoke Village of Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, Thursday, June 29, 2006. Torrential rains in China's south and southwest have killed at least 37 people and destroyed more than 2,500 homes, the government said Thursday. [AP]

Flooding triggered by heavy rains killed at least 30 people in the mountainous southern region of Guizhou, the Xinhua News Agency said. It said another 20 people were missing after the rains, which hit the area on June 12-13.

Up to 200 millimeters (eight inches) of rain fell in some areas, Xinhua said. It said economic losses were estimated at 1.1 billion yuan (US$130 million).

In Sichuan province in the southwest, seven people were killed and one was missing after a rainstorm hit the city of Luzhou on Wednesday, Xinhua said, citing local officials.

It said 190 houses were destroyed.

Heavy summer rains cause devastating flooding every year in areas throughout China.

Also Thursday, a tropical storm that was brewing in the South China Sea made landfall on Zhanjiang in Guangdong province in the morning before it subsided to a tropical depression, Xinhua reported, citing the Chinese Central Meteorological Station. The report did not mention any injuries or deaths resulting from the storm.

Train ferries and freight ships resumed service at nearby Hainan, an island province in southern China, after being suspended for 24 hours as the island braced for the arrival of the storm, the agency said.

However, Hainan's flood, drought and typhoon relief office were advising fishermen to keep monitoring weather forecasts, Xinhua said. The office called 19,082 ships back to port on Wednesday.