Visit www.weatheronline.co.uk - the UK's most comprehensive internet weather - to get the latest weather news or talk to our forecast telephone service (09061 991 189 £1.50p/min)

BEIJING - Torrential downpours and severe flooding have killed at least 14 people in northern and central China and left scores missing, state media said Tuesday.

Most heavily hit was the northeastern province of Liaoning, where 10 people were reported dead and 46 were severely injured, said Xinhua news agency. Another 35 were missing.

By Monday more than 19,080 houses were destroyed and 188,000 people made homeless had been relocated, it said.

This flood was the most serious since 1995 ... because of the flood, some highways in remote areas were damaged and transport was cut off. The rain has stopped and officials are concentrating on disaster relief.

said a Liaoning province water official surnamed Zhang. Fushun city was one of the worst hit areas in the province, with many highways, bridges and railway lines damaged, while electricity, water and food supplies were cut in some areas.

The downpours have dumped 150 millimetres (six inches) of rain on the city since Friday, with thousands of houses submerged. In neighbouring Jilin province, at least one person was killed while some 182,000 residents were affected by heavy rainstorms which destroyed more than 330 houses and thousands of hectares (acres) of crops, a separate Xinhua report said.

The rain, described by local flood control officials as the "most violent" this year, also damaged kilometers (miles) of highways, 12 reservoirs and scores of irrigation projects, it said.

In the city of Danjiangkou in the central province of Hubei, rainstorms and flash floods that started Sunday killed three people and left three others missing, according to officials quoted by Xinhua. More than 2,500 people trapped by the flood had been relocated, it said.

The International Red Cross said Friday that floods and related disasters have killed 910 people in China so far this year and left another 218 missing, while almost three million people have been evacuated. Since the end of May floods, typhoons and other disasters have hit 27 of Chinas 31 mainland provinces, accounting for most of the deaths. Floods have always been part of life in China but this year they have been more devastating than usual.