BEIJING - More than 10 million people were under threat from potentially devastating floods Tuesday, as central China's massive Dongting Lake surged above danger levels with more torrential rain on the way, officials and reports said. Dongting acts as a buffer to the perennially flood-prone Yangtze River, and if embankments burst the resulting floods could prove the worst in a summer which has already seen around 900 people die in flooding throughout China, officials warned.

Water levels in the traditional danger spot of Chenglingji, where the Yangtze exits the lake, were already above warning marks Tuesday. At 8:00 am (0000 GMT) the waters were almost a metre and a half (five feet) above 32-metre (106-foot) flood warning marks, said an official named He at the anti-flood bureau of nearby Changde city. With swollen rivers emptying water into the lake all the time, more than 10 million people and 667,000 hectares (1.67 million acres) of farmland were under threat, the China Daily said.

To add to concerns, tropical storm Vongfong was due to dump yet more torrential rain over Hunan as it grinds across the country. Vongfong -- named after an insect that inflicts a painful sting -- hit the southern province of Guangdong province around 8:40 pm Monday (1200 GMT) and was gradually moving northeast, weakening as it proceeded.

Vongfong brought torrential rain to southern China during Monday and Tuesday, stranding air and rail passengers but causing no reported casualties, officials and reports said. The southern island province of Hainan was battered through Monday, with 113 flights delayed and more than 3,000 passengers stranded, the official China New Service said.

This year's flood season started particularly early with a series of devastating flash floods in June, prompting official warnings that the 1998 toll could be exceeded. The situation then abated, but around 250 people have died in floods and landslides over past fortnight alone, renewing fears with the flood season due to stretch on for several more weeks.

In the southwestern province of Yunnan, torrential rain and floods have left 106 dead and 72 missing in the mountainous province since the beginning of the month, according to state newspapers.

In eastern China's Zhejiang province, 21 were confirmed dead and eight missing after powerful mountain torrents triggered by heavy rain hit dozens of villages, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Copyright 2002 - AFP & Weatheronline