BEIJING. July 6: Flash floods have killed at least 33 people and left more than two million people temporarily homeless In central China since torrential rains began in June. The China Dally said today. reports Reuter.

More than 1 17,000 hectares (290.000 acres) of crops have been destroyed In the floods 1n the centre of Hunan province, with at a least 2.1 million people forced from their homes, the newspaper said.

Elsewhere, authorities have mobilised 18 million youths to build earthworks as fears grow that northern China s largest waterway, the Yellow river, might burst Its banks, the newspaper said.

But in China’s most popu Ibus province, western Sichuan, a severe drought means crop yield from 5.3 mil Hon hectares (13 million acres) of land will drop 30 per cent this year, the newspaper quoted experts as saying.